


Everything, Anything

by Rabbit_is_Good_Rabbit_is_Wise



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bickering, First Kiss, Frustration, Getting Together, Is it slow burn if they both actually know, Light Angst, M/M, Murder Mystery, Mutual Pining, Post-ROS, Snark, The Force Ships It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22788739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabbit_is_Good_Rabbit_is_Wise/pseuds/Rabbit_is_Good_Rabbit_is_Wise
Summary: This isn’t so much a story about falling in love as it is about finally sitting down with the being that fills your heart and talking about it—because the thing is, Poe and Finn both know, deep down, how they feel about each other. But since Exegol, they haven’t had the time to talk about it—or perhaps it’s that they’re scared to: to name what they have makes it real and makes it vulnerable, and they’ve both been soldiers long enough to see the pitfalls in that.But now, they find themselves in the middle of negotiations for a new government as well as a possible inter-galaxy money laundering scheme.Oh, and there’s also been a murder.All Poe and Finn want is some time together, alone, where they can finally talk (and maybe do a bit more than talking). Hopefully they’ll find it before one of them ends up being accused of murder...
Relationships: Iolo Arana & Poe Dameron, Lando Calrissian & Finn, Poe Dameron & Finn, Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 86
Kudos: 111





	1. Someday

Poe stepped off the transport, waving back to the pilot with a soft, “Thanks.” He took a deep breath and walked the dirt path to command. At some point in the last few months, Ajan Kloss had become their permanent base of operations rather than the temporary home they’d first thought it would be. Poe saw a few beings milling about as he ducked under a low branch and the command center came into view; he’d expected it to be quiet at this time of night, but the Resistance never slept, even more so now that Palpatine was dead. A light rain started to fall, and Poe paused, looking up and letting the drops wash over his face. He rubbed his eyes and started forward again, trying to remember what day it was.

Rose was, as usual, in command. “General,” she said, walking over. “You made good time.”

Poe quickly searched the space, but it was mostly empty and there was definitely no Finn. “Huh? Oh, yeah. We did?” Poe licked his lips and tried to focus on the datapad she’d thrust in front of him. When his eyes couldn’t focus, he scrubbed his face. “What time is it?” And before she could answer, “What day is it?”

Rose shook her head, putting the datapad down. “Taungsday,” she said. She gave him a soft shove. “And it’s late. Go get some sleep.”

Poe started, “If it’s important—” She shoved just a bit harder. “Fine,” he breathed out. “Just…” He swallowed and tried to remember everything he needed to tell her. He closed his eyes, mentally scrolling through his to do list. “Tomorrow we’re going to need to contact Jannah and Maz and get the latest numbers on the Stormtroopers and how they’re coming with the Order’s records. We’ll also need an update for the broadcast Connix wants to put out, and…” He ran his hand through his hair, tugging just a bit, trying to wake himself up. “We’re going to need someone to poke around Bothan Space. One of Lando’s contacts said some of the gangs are trying to take advantage of the…the…” He shrugged and motioned his hands around. “You know.”

Rose nodded, ready to shove him back towards his quarters when he seemed to get his second wind. “Oh, you might want Zorii on that. I know she has some friends there. Also, we’re going to need to send a comm to Rey and see if she wants to say anything about the Jedi or whatever when we give that report to the Corellian delegation next week, and—”

“Poe,” Rose said, trying hard not to roll her eyes. “I got your message earlier.”

“I sent a message?”

This time Rose shoved hard. “Yeah, you did. With all of that, plus three other things we need to discuss.” Poe opened his mouth and she shoved again. “Which we will do. Tomorrow. After you’ve slept.”

“Fine,” Poe said, dodging another shove and making his way out of command. “I’ll sleep.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Finn sighed as he heard a bang followed by a whispered “Kriff.” He opened his eyes to find the quarters he shared with Poe still dark. “Lights,” he said.

“Wait,” Poe started as the lights came up, “you don’t have to—OW!” Poe tripped over his footlocker and went sprawling onto his bed.

“Yeah, because you were doing so well in the dark,” Finn said. He stretched his body with a yawn. “I take it this means you’re back?” He smiled as he watched Poe battle with his shirt and pants, both of which seemed to have been turned inside out while Poe tried to undress.

“Yeah,” Poe said from somewhere inside his shirt.

“And?”

“And,” Poe repeated. Finn raised an eyebrow and waited. Poe peaked out from inside his shirt. He shook his head. “The same,” he said, tugging and finally getting his shirt off. He threw it onto the floor. “Every day, some new system wants to meet,” he met Finn’s eyes, “but only with you or me or Rey.” He sighed, bending to take off his boots. “Beings are worried about the Stormtroopers. The gangs are trying to move into the spaces that the Order has vacated that we’re not in yet. Everyone wants a new government in place yesterday.” He shook his head. “All the same.”

Finn stretched and sat up. “Pretty much the same story here.”

“Yeah?” Poe scrubbed his face. “What time is it?”

“Late,” Finn said. “Too late.” He sighed as he leaned against his headboard. “How long are you back for?”

“Well… Wait, me?” Poe froze and then turned. “Oh, no you don’t.” Poe’s eyes narrowed. “I just got back. It’s your turn.”

“I thought I was going to see Jannah and Maz,” Finn said as innocently as possible.

“No,” Poe said, stomping across the floor. “You are not sending me back there this time!”

Finn couldn’t help his chuckle. “Fine,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender. “I’ll talk with them tomorrow and we’ll figure something out.” 

Poe’s shoulders sagged and he rubbed his hand over his face for what felt like the millionth time. “I’m sorry, Finn, it’s just…”

Finn patted the bed next to him. Poe sat. Finn put a hand on Poe’s shoulder. “I get it,” he said with a squeeze. “Really.”

“I know,” Poe said, giving Finn a half smile. “I know.” He leaned in and put his head on Finn’s shoulder. He closed his eyes and breathed Finn in. Poe could smell something citrusy and bright. It was just Finn’s soap, but to Poe, it was like a little bit of Finn washing over him, and he couldn’t help but sigh happily.

Finn leaned his head onto Poe’s, and they sat like that for several seconds before Poe finally moved. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” Finn said.

“I’m a pilot,” Poe said, getting up. “Not a kriffing politician.”

“And I’m an ex-Stormtrooper. And Rey’s a scavenger,” Finn said. “But for right now, everyone’s looking to us.”

Poe snorted. “Yeah.” He fell onto his bed, grabbing at the blankets and half-heartedly pulling them over himself. “That’s the problem.” He opened his eyes and found Finn. “Always have to be on, all the time.”

Finn slid back down into his bed and stared at Poe. “You saying you can’t handle it, mister spice runner?”

Poe groaned. “Seriously, Finn, give it up!”

Finn laughed. “Only when it stops getting a reaction.”

Poe burrowed down further into his sheets. “Great,” he said. “You’re gonna be calling me that forever.”

“At least until we’re in our eighties.”

“I need some dirt on you,” Poe said. “Something I can bug you with.”

“There is none,” Finn said. “I’ve lived a clean life.” Poe shot Finn an incredulous look. Finn shrugged. “Well, aside from the whole _solider-for-a-fascist-organization_ stuff.”

“Yeah, except for that.” Poe yawned and stretched. “Night, General.”

“Night, nerf-herder,” Finn said. “Lights.” As the room settled back into darkness, Finn knew he wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon—not now that he was awake—but he also couldn’t face getting back up, not just yet.

Poe started snoring, and Finn turned. He couldn’t help that small bubbly feeling he always got in his chest when Poe was being adorable—Poe had somehow managed to get all of his blankets wrapped around his legs. Plus, his hair was sticking out in every direction. “Someday,” he whispered.

It was something he’d been promising himself a lot lately.

Finn forced himself to turn away from Poe. In hindsight, sharing a room with a being he had a crush on had been a terrible idea, but at the time—way back when they’d first landed on Ajan Kloss—Finn thought there’d be time to sit down with Poe and have the conversation they’d been desperately needing to have since practically the moment they met.

But that time hadn’t presented itself. And one month had turned into two, two into four, and now, here they were, co-Generals, and neither of them seemed willing to take that first step towards transforming their relationship into something more.

Finn sighed. Part of it was that they were both just so kriffing busy. With their sudden promotions and the win at Exegol, everything had changed. Finn knew what to do when he was a soldier and it was battles and strategy, but now? Well, it was still battles and strategy, but there was also diplomacy and keeping the peace and building a new government. There was always something to do, and everyone seemed to be looking to him and Poe to do it.

That meant that the situation with Poe was…awkward.

Finn snuck another look at Poe. He had hoped that Poe might get in early, but in his daydream, Poe had arrived happy and awake and ready to talk, not tripping over his own feet trying to get to bed. Finn felt himself starting to tense and focused on one of the exercises Rey had taught him before she’d left.

A few days after Exegol, he had finally been able to get Rey alone. He explained what he’d been trying to tell her on Pasaana—that he was Force sensitive. Over the past year, he’d been realizing it more and more: he’d just know things he shouldn’t be able to know. He could pick up on beings’ thoughts and emotions. His reaction times were getting quicker, and the more he let the strange, new feeling in and stopped fighting it, the more certain he’d become that he had what she had. He might not be as powerful as her, but he figured with some training, he could at least follow in the footsteps of Leia Organa.

And for the first few weeks after Exegol, Rey had started training him. It was the most exhilarating feeling, finally being able to reach out and connect to the Force mindfully. But then, one day, Rey told him that she could sense other Force-sensitive beings around the galaxy, and she felt a strong push to reach out and help them.

Finn knew he was being selfish in wanting her to stay, so he put on his best smile and told her she had to follow her heart. Rey made her arrangements, and she and Chewie left in the Falcon a few days later.

She had asked Finn to come with her, but something told him he needed to stay on Ajan Kloss, and he’d come to trust that strange feeling that he could now confidently call the Force. Plus, he’d hoped that he and Poe would find time to talk. So, he’d sent her on her way with promises that when she got back, he’d start his training in earnest.

Now, as he stared up at the ceiling of his quarters, he wondered if he’d made the right decision. 


	2. Later

Jannah’s face glowed blue over the holoprojector. “We’ll have Naxx send the latest numbers tomorrow.”

“Great,” Finn said, with a smile. “We’re glad to hear it’s going well.”

“We just wish you were here,” she said, and Finn felt a familiar pain in his heart.

There were still pockets of the First Order scattered throughout the galaxy, but with the deaths of Palpatine, Ren, Hux, and Pryde, their leadership was in tatters. That didn’t necessarily mean that the Order was going down without a fight, but every day, more and more Stormtroopers were defecting or surrendering.

Everyone had realized pretty quickly that that posed a logistical problem. While some of the newly defecting Stormtroopers were eager to join the Resistance, most of them simply wanted to leave the war behind and start over, and that meant that there were suddenly thousands of beings who needed to a place to live.

Thankfully, Jannah and Finn had spent the first few weeks after Exegol reaching out to Resistance allies to find planets willing to take in Stormtrooper refugees. Rather than try to process the Stormtroopers from the main Resistance base, though, Finn had suggested moving to a new space, one dedicated to taking in Stormtroopers and helping them transition to civilian life and find their families. Lothal had an empty Rebellion-era base, so about a month after Exegol, the Resistance set up its Stormtrooper Intake Program there. Finn had wanted to go to lead up the program—he'd wanted to meet all of the ex-Stormtroopers and tell them that their lives were about to get better—but being a General meant delegating, so he’d sent Jannah and the former members of Company 77 in his place.

Maz had soon joined them, bringing along a group of slicers who were going to help the Resistance hack the Order’s files, so they could start dismantling it from the inside. Of course, they were also hoping they’d find records about all the children the Order had stolen to help them relocate Stormtroopers, but so far, they hadn’t had much luck. So recently, in what little spare time he had, Finn had been sending out transmissions following up leads on stolen children and asking anyone with missing children to send their genetic information to the new Resistance database. They’d already had some hits, and nothing made Finn prouder than the fact that he was able to help reunite those families.

As Finn thought about the possibilities of reuniting more Stormtroopers with their families, he smiled, lost in a warm feeling of hope, but his attention snapped back to the comm when Poe made a strange noise. Jannah was still going over plans to build new temporary housing on Lothal as Poe cocked his head to the side. Poe squinted as he tried to make out what was going on behind her. “Is that?”

“What?”

“Behind you,” Poe said.

She nodded and turned to look at it. “Oh, yeah, it’s a Maxima Heavy Cruiser. It came in yesterday.” Poe whistled appreciatively, and Jannah frowned. “There weren’t a lot of personnel left when they landed. When the mutiny started, the battalion split and the fighting turned nasty.”

Maz broke in, “We’re hearing that a lot these days.”

Poe nodded and said, “We’ll send out another broadcast asking for the remainders of the Order to surrender, but…” He looked to Finn, who added, “That’s probably not going to do much.”

“Agreed,” Jannah said. “Any word on when we can expect the transport from Kuat?”

Rose said, “It should be within a day or so. They ran into some issues with their hyperdrive, so they’re having to take it slow.”

“Good. Because we’ve got a lot of ships to process and…” She shook her head. “The Order had so many ships.”

Poe smiled. “The key word being _had_.”

“Very true,” she said with a smile.

“Anything else,” Finn asked.

Maz said, “When you talk to Rey, tell her we have some beings she needs to meet.”

“Really,” Finn asked.

Maz nodded. “With Palpatine’s influence gone, I think we’re going to see the return of Force-sensitive beings across the galaxy.” She gave him a knowing smile.

Finn returned her smile, thinking about what that meant. _New Jedi_ , he thought, wondering what it might be like to become one and have a lightsaber of his own.

“Finn?”

Finn startled. “Huh?”

“You still with us, buddy?”

Finn shook his head. “Just got lost in thought for a moment.” Poe gave him a look, checking to see if Finn was okay. Finn nodded his head. Poe raised an eyebrow. Finn mouthed, _Jedi_.

_Oh_ , Poe mouthed back.

“You two done,” Rose asked.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry.”

Rose rolled her eyes and then waved to Jannah and Maz. “Let us know when the transport arrives.”

“We will,” Jannah said.

“Ajon Kloss out.” Rose walked back to her console. “Okay, now onto our more pressing concerns…” Both Poe and Finn groaned. “Oh, suck it up, you big babies,” Rose said, pulling up a map.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Poe stretched his neck as he walked outside. Finn was stretching his arms. “Did Leia ever look this tired,” Poe asked. “I don’t think she ever looked this tired.”

“No,” Finn said. “And there’s two of us.”

“And we’re younger,” Poe added. Finn raised an eyebrow at Poe. “Oh, ha ha. _Poe’s old._ Hilarious, Finn.”

Finn chuckled. “I try.”

Poe nodded towards the mess. “Dinner?”

“Dinner,” Finn said, falling into step beside him.

After a moment, Poe asked, “So, daydreaming about lightsabers again?”

“What?” Then Finn remembered the comm with Jannah. “Oh, yeah, that.” He smiled. “I think I want mine to be purple.”

“You get to choose the color?”

Finn shook his head. “Nah, but let a guy dream, Dameron.”

“Yeah, of course. Go for it, buddy.” Poe paused and then said, “Speaking of which, how is Rey?” Poe sounded a bit forced, but he hoped Finn didn’t notice.

Finn noticed. He raised an eyebrow. “Are you still mad about that?”

Poe’s feelings about Rey were complicated. He loved her but he was also a bit jealous of her—Bee adored her; Finn had this super-close relationship with her, and she was a kriffing Jedi, for crying out loud! There was no way he could compete. She was like the pesky little sister who kept showing him up.

But when she’d set off on her latest mission, things had gotten even worse. “She stole my droid,” Poe grumbled.

“She needed a droid, and as I remember, _you_ volunteered Bee.”

“Well, Bee didn’t put up much of a fight.”

“You really are a six-year-old, aren’t you?”

Poe pouted and Finn swung an arm around his shoulders. “They’ll be back soon enough. Rey’s already said she’s missing us.”

_Missing you, probably not me so much._ Poe still felt like a heel for how jealous he’d been of her during their mission to find the map to Exegol, but once he knew Finn’s secret, he had a strange new feeling to contend with. There had, of course, been a euphoric few days celebrating Force-sensitive Finn—because yes, that was great news—but then the reality of what that meant came crashing down around Poe’s head: Finn was Force sensitive. That most likely meant training.

With Rey.

Far away from base.

Every day since he’d realized that, Poe had been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Finn squeezed Poe before letting his arm drop. He shot a look at Poe as they entered the mess. “You okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Poe said, painting a big smile on his face. “Just a long day, you know?”

Finn nodded. “Every day is a long day.”

“Maybe we’re just getting old,” Poe offered.

“Speak for yourself.”

“Ha ha,” Poe said. “You’re hilarious tonight.”

Finn stuck his tongue out at Poe and picked up a tray. “I’m hilarious every night.”

“Is that when I’m asleep?”

“No, Dameron, you just can’t appreciate genius,” Finn said, taking a plate of protein and sniffing it. He frowned but still put it on his plate.

“Genius? Really? I’d say if anyone’s a genius, it’s me.”

Finn chuckled. “Humble too.”

“Well, I _am_ the best pilot in the galaxy.”

“Mmmmmm-hmmmmm.” Finn knew better than to mention Rey’s piloting skills to Poe—that was an even touchier subject than Bee, so as they sat at their table, Finn decided to change the subject. He picked up his caf and asked, “How long before Lando needs me on New Plymto?”

Poe frowned. “Next week at the latest.”

“Great,” Finn said with no feeling.

Four months ago, Poe had reached out to the Nosaurians on New Plymto to see about creating a base there. It was a core world, well-located on the Corellian Trade Spur and close to the Hydian Way, and historically, it had been a safe haven for the Alliance. The Nosaurian government quickly found the Resistance a workable space in the capital, Phemiss, and Poe and Finn sent every ranking member of the Resistance with any diplomatic training whatsoever to start setting up there. The New Plymto Base was to be the center of the Resistance’s new political outreach program, headed by Lando Calrissian.

And while a number of Resistance officers had volunteered for the new post—including C-3P0 and Connix—it quickly became apparent that many of the beings they were now dealing with wanted to see either Finn or Poe at official meetings too. That meant that for the last three-and-a-half months, Poe and Finn had been trading off turns at New Plymto alongside everything else.

“We never get to hang out anymore,” Finn complained.

Poe gave a mirthless chuckle. “It’s pretty bad when we’re looking back at the war as the good ol’ days.”

“True.”

“I mean, remember the mission to Tevel?”

“Oh kriff,” Finn said. He started to laugh. “When you had to pretend to be a First Order officer!”

Poe smiled. “Just channeling my inner Hux.” He laughed, and their eyes met, and for one moment, everything fell away—all the stress, the never-ending questions, the worries, the fears—Poe and Finn existed in their own tiny bubble.

It was as close to the perfect moment to talk as they were likely to get.

“Finn,” Poe started.

“Yeah,” Finn said, leaning forward.

“Finn, I…I—”

Poe’s and Finn’s comms dinged at the same time. Poe growled. Finn closed his eyes, hating everyone and everything. “Yes,” he barked.

“Suralinda and Karé have a mission update,” Larma said.

Poe sighed, letting his fork fall onto his tray. “We’ll be right there.” He spared one last look at Finn, who met his eyes and nodded. _Later._

_Always later._

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

A few hours later, Poe stared up at the ceiling of their quarters, knowing he should try to sleep, but ruminating about that moment in the mess. He turned and watched Finn sleep, hating himself for not just saying something.

But every time he’d tried, life got in the way. There was always an emergency or a comm or… _Excuses_ , Poe thought. He grit his teeth and closed his eyes. _Damn kriffing excuses_.

And Finn would be gone again in another day or two and they’d have to start the whole horrible dance all over: a few weeks apart, a few days together, and repeat. Over and over until Poe wanted to scream.

_It was supposed to be different_ , he thought, opening his eyes and staring back up at the ceiling. _We won_.

_How come we don’t get to enjoy it?_


	3. Back in the Field

Finn sat on a transport to New Plymto. His leg jiggled up and down as he stared at his datapad, but he didn't really see it. His thoughts kept drifting back to Poe. Their last few days together had been…frustrating. Finn sighed, putting down the datapad and leaning against his seat. That was the problem. In the time since Exegol, they’d managed to settle into this strange détente: Poe was no longer openly jealous of Rey because he knew the big secret, but neither of them had talked about _why_ Poe had been jealous in the first place. 

Finn had his suspicions.

Hopes, really.

_No, dammit_ , Finn thought to himself. _I know._

But they’d never talked about it.

They never talked about the way Poe always seemed to find a reason to put his hand on Finn’s arm when they were at the consoles in command, or the fact that Finn felt just a bit lighter every time Poe came into a room. They never mentioned the late-night chats that were about anything and everything…except their love lives.

No. Instead, they’d managed to dance around each other. They’d share a meaningful glance and _almost_ talk, but then…something always got in the way.

Thankfully, they were working in sync like they always had, but the strange tension hanging over them was starting to be too much. Finn shook his head. “It needs to happen soon,” he muttered to himself, his leg still moving up and down. “Because this isn’t working for me.” He took a deep breath and forced his leg to stop. _Focus_ , he told himself. _Just focus_.

_When I get back from New Plymto, I’ll force him to talk._

“Dameron,” Finn whispered, “I’m going to drag you into this conversation kicking and screaming if I have to.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Poe crossed his arms as he rocked backward on his heels. He tracked the small blips on the screen. Each one represented a friend and right now, they were in danger. Poe chewed on the inside of his cheek as he listened to Jess, Iolo, and the other members of the newly-reorganized Black Squadron take on a First Order frigate in the Arkanis Sector.

After years in the cockpit, he was used to the back-and-forth of pilots in battle, but this? Just standing here watching? Poe’s fingers dug into his arms.

There was an explosion, and Poe flinched.

After what felt like an eternity, Jess let out a whoop, “Yeah!”

Iolo’s voice crackled over the comms, “I think that did it.”

Nodin said, “The canons are gone, and the frigate is listing. No TIEs in sight.”

Poe closed his eyes, breathing out, and his shoulders relaxed. _Thank the Force_. “Good work, everyone. We just had word from our cell on Tatooine. They’re sending a freighter to help you bring the frigate in and deal with any prisoners. Should be there within the hour.”

“Roger that, General,” Iolo said. “We’re going to follow them back and do some repairs.”

“Sounds good,” Poe said. “Let Rose know when you’ve landed on Tatooine.”

“Will do, Poe. Over and out.”

Poe stepped back from the console and let out another long breath.

“Miss it,” Rose asked.

Poe nodded. “It’s a stupid thing to miss,” he said, “but…” He turned and gave her a half-hearted smile. “What’s next?”

Rose handed him a datapad. “Finn commed in while you were dealing with that.” She didn’t miss the way Poe frowned. “It’s all there in the report he sent, but the gist of it is that Seeva Olara wants to set up a meeting on Brentaal between the Resistance and representatives of some of the larger trading houses and Core World governments. She’s hoping to come to some informal agreements about trade as we move forward. A first step in getting the new government off the ground.”

Poe scanned Finn’s report. “I take it she wants one of us there?”

“Finn suggests he and Lando go, since she’s pushing for things to happen quickly and they’re relatively close.”

Poe raised an eyebrow, and Rose laughed. In the past few months, Seeva Olara had become one of the best patrons of the Resistance, giving them thousands of credits and gifting them several new transports in the process, but everyone who’d dealt with her had quickly discovered that she was a being who had strong opinions and who was used to getting her way. More than once, she and Poe had traded terse words, even if they had a begrudging respect for one another. Seeva and Finn, on the other hand, got along surprisingly well.

“If she’s in charge, Finn’s the better choice,” Poe said.

“Well, yeah,” Rose murmured.

“You know I can hear you.”

“Yes, General,” Rose said with a sly smile, “I do.” She nodded towards medical. “Doctor Kalonia wanted to see you when you had a few minutes.”

“Yeah, give me a few.” Poe walked over to a console and quickly typed out a short message to Finn. 

_I guess this means you’re going to be stuck in the Core even longer, huh?_

_I was really hoping you and I could have a few minutes of down time together sometime this year._

_Be careful._

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Later that night, Finn chuckled and quickly wrote out a reply:

_I’m going to a meeting, Dameron, not a battle._

_Besides, from what I hear about the Olara Compound, it’s basically a palace. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be eating very well very soon._

_But yeah, we really need to find some time to talk. Face to face._

_I’m getting sick of this long-distance stuff._

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

_You and your food!_

_I’m totally jealous in case you couldn’t tell._

_And I really think that Rose gives me extra work when you’re not around._

_Long distance sucks, Finn, so be brilliant and set up this new government already so you can come home._

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Finn leaned back as he re-read the message yet again. 

_Home._

He couldn’t stop smiling. Poe might have meant the base on Ajon Kloss, but for Finn, "home" meant something else entirely. _Someone_ else, actually.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**One week later…**

“Run that by me again,” Poe said, walking through command with Iolo at his side.

“My friend, Sirra, sent me a message yesterday, and—”

“Sirra?”

“I grew up with her, and—”

Poe stopped at a console and pointed to the screen. “Larma, can you double check that this information is up-to-date?” Poe started moving again, scanning the datapad in front of him. Iolo tried to keep up, but he was on crutches following a dogfight in Hutt Space a few days earlier.

“Poe,” Iolo called after him.

“Huh,” Poe said over his shoulder.

“My friend?”

“Yeah, Sorbet or something.” Poe handed the datapad to Rose. “It all looks good except for that last part. I think they have the figures for the bacta shipment wrong. See if someone in medical can verify that for you.”

“Will do,” Rose said, shooting a sympathetic look at Iolo before rushing off.

Poe started forward again, but this time Iolo caught his arm. “Poe,” he said, tugging the General towards him. “I need five minutes of your _undivided_ attention. Five minutes where I’m not having to chase you around command. It’s important.”

Poe closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He ran a quick hand through his hair. “Sorry, Lo. It’s just…” He gestured around the command center, which seemed particularly busy today.

“I know, but I think you need to hear this.”

Poe nodded. He shouted out, “Rose, I’m taking five.”

“Okay,” she yelled back. “Take ten!”

Poe rolled his eyes before nodding to the nearest exit. He waited until they were out behind the main command structure before turning and giving Iolo his full attention. “So, what’s up?”

“My friend, Sirra, sent me a message yesterday. She works for Seeva Olara and she says she saw something that has her worried about this upcoming summit that’s happening on Brentaal.”

Poe’s whole body tensed. “The one with Finn and Lando? Did she say what?”

Iolo shook his head. “Didn’t want to transmit anything more.” He leaned in. “Poe, I’ve known Sirra all my life. She,” he pursed his lips, trying to find the right words, “she wouldn’t bring this to me unless she was sure there was something wrong.”

“Kriff,” Poe breathed out.

“She wants to meet with me,” Iolo added.

“Here?”

“On Brentaal.”

“Kriff,” Poe said, “this just keeps getting better.”

“Yeah,” Iolo said, holding up his crutches.

“Someone should go with you.”

“I was thinking that too, but we’re stretched pretty thin as it is.”

Poe sighed out, “I know.” He leaned back against the building and pulled at his hair, trying to figure out who could go: they needed the pilots in the air; command was already stretched thin, and every other unit was down at least three or four beings. “Kriff,” Poe said.

“Yeah.”

“What about Finn or Lando,” Poe asked.

“Aren’t they at the meeting?”

“Yeah, but I should tell them something’s up, right?”

“She didn’t want to transmit anything, so I’ve got to guess she’s worried someone’s going to intercept.”

Poe frowned. “Who? The Order?” Iolo shrugged. Poe leaned his head back. “If I can’t give Finn the details, can I at least tell him to keep his eyes open?”

“As long as you don’t let on that we have specific concerns, sure,” Iolo said.

Poe pushed off the building. “That probably means we shouldn’t let on that you’re coming to meet your friend.”

“Probably.”

“Okay,” Poe said. “I guess that means I’m going to Brentaal.”

“What?”

“Well, I can’t think of anyone else,” Poe said walking back towards command. “Plus, if there is something going on, we’re going to need to act quickly.”

“You’re going back in the field?”

“You make it sound like I’ve been grounded for years, Lo. I’ve only been in charge for six months.”

As they entered the building, Iolo whispered, “Rose is gonna kill you.”

“Oh yeah,” Poe said. “That’s a given.” He smiled at Iolo. “That’s why I’m going to blame it on you.”


	4. The Meet

Finn reread the message for the twelfth time and shook his head. It was mostly the usual—updates and information that might be useful in bargaining with the trade delegations and other governments—but Poe had ended the message with: “Hope the summit is as successful as that time on Corellia!”

Lando walked in from the cockpit. “We should be in orbit in about an hour.” He sat down and looked from Finn’s face to the datapad. “Bad news?”

Finn handed it to Lando, who read the message. “And?”

“That last line? The mission to Corellia started out pretty well, but…”

“But?”

“Let’s just say it ended with lots of screaming and blasterfire and at least one being having to jump out a window.”

Lando chuckled. “Sounds like fun.”

“A thrill,” Finn deadpanned.

“So, what exactly is Poe trying to tell us?”

Finn pressed his lips together. “I’m not sure. Something to do with our mission here, but…” He shrugged.

Lando handed the datapad back. “We’ll be careful. Keep our eyes open. And hope no one has to jump through any windows.”

Finn chuckled. “Yeah. But all the same, we should probably have an exit strategy in place. Just in case.”

“Well, we have an hour. Let’s figure something out.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**Two Days Later…**

Poe opened the door to the small room they’d rented in a hotel on the outskirts of Cormond, the capital city of Brentaal. “So….”

“So,” Iolo asked.

“What now?”

“We wait for Sirra to contact us.”

Poe made an aggravated sound and fell backwards onto one of the two tiny beds taking up most of the room.

“I’m thrilled to be here with you too, darling,” Iolo said caustically. He hobbled over to the small window carved into the stone that made up the hotel—and most of the buildings in the city. He’d opted to travel without his crutches, and his temporary leg brace was slowing him down. “I know waiting isn’t your strong suit.”

“There’s just a lot riding on this.”

“Mmmmm-hmmmm,” Iolo said with a smile.

Poe looked up from the bed. “Care to elaborate?”

Iolo leaned back against the window. “You were in a mood the entire flight, and my guess is it has something to do with a certain General who is staying in a fancy house less than an hour away.”

“Go milk a moof,” Poe snarked, letting his head fall back onto the bed.

“You’re not worried about him?”

“Why would I be worried about him? Finn’s one of the best soldiers we’ve got.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Iolo said. Poe looked unconvinced, so Iolo shook his head. “Doesn’t matter because you’re not worried about his competence. You’re worried about _him_.”

“Is this a riddle or something?”

“No.” Iolo pushed off from the window and levered himself over to the single chair in the room. He sat down. “You’re tight because Finn might be in danger and for the past two years, when Finn’s been in danger, you’ve usually been there with him.”

Poe got defensive. “We work well together.”

“Certainly do.”

“And?”

“And you’re in love with him.”

Poe groaned and reached for his pillow, lobbing it at Iolo.

Iolo caught it, laughing. “You can deny it all you want—”

“Didn’t deny it,” Poe said. Both of Iolo’s eyebrows shot up, and Poe said, “Just don’t want to have this conversation with you before I’ve had it with Finn.”

Iolo dropped the pillow. “You two haven’t talked about this yet?”

“We’ve been kind of busy, Lo. Running the Resistance.”

Iolo leaned back into the chair, shaking his head. “You’re an idiot, Poe.”

“That’s _General Idiot_ to you.” Poe sat up and scooted forward so that he and Iolo were face to face. “I know we need to talk about it, but…” He sighed. “I didn’t realize being in charge would be this hard.”

“Yeah,” Iolo said. “Leia made it look easy.”

Poe gave a cheerless laugh. “She did.” He thought about her, and for about the millionth time in the last six months, he wished she was still here to tell him what to do.

“Still,” Iolo said. “It’s not really an excuse.”

“Well, you try running the Resistance then!”

  
  
“You live with him, Poe!”

“Well, that may be, but—”

“You two share a kriffing room and you’re always together and you’re telling me you can’t take three seconds to say, _Hey Finn, I love you_.”

“Well,” Poe started. Iolo stared at him, daring him to reply. Poe threw up his hands. “What do you want me to do, Lo? It’s not like I can just walk up to the Olara Compound and say, _Hey, could I come in for a few minutes to interrupt this meeting to tell General Finn I love him_!”

Iolo laughed. “I can see you doing that.”

Poe couldn’t help his chuckle. “Fine. Yes, it sounds like something I might do, but,” he sobered a bit, “we’re on a mission, in case you forgot.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always excuses with you.”

Poe was about to level a retort when the console in the room dinged and lit up. Iolo limped over. “It’s from Sirra. She wants to meet us at…” He started laughing.

“What?”

“The gardens at the back of the Olara Compound. Just after nine tonight. Guess you might get to declare your feelings after all.”

Poe scowled at Iolo, but he couldn’t help the giddy little feeling in his stomach at the thought of possibly seeing Finn. “Does she say anything else?”

“Just that she has something for us.”

“Let’s hope it’s good.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Day one of the conference had mostly been meeting other beings, smiling, and answering the inevitable questions about the Resistance and _Rey-the-Jedi._ Day two had been much more involved, talking about possible structures for the new galactic government, as well as ways to get things up and running as quickly as possible. While it was invigorating, it also made for a long day.

Finn rolled his shoulders as he and Lando made their way back to their rooms to change for dinner. “Tomorrow I’m finding a better chair.” He worked out a kink in one of his arms.

Lando chuckled. “The seating’s going to be the least of our worries if we can’t get the others to agree on at least a few basics.”

“They aren’t the most agreeable beings I’ve ever met.” Finn opened his door and Lando followed him in.

“What do you think of Seeva,” he asked Finn.

Finn looked around the room and then motioned towards his balcony. He didn’t want to be paranoid, but Poe’s message had him on edge. Once they were outside, he leaned in. “She’s been supporting the Resistance since Exegol, and we get along well.”

“But?”

“I get the sense there are things she’s not telling us.” Lando nodded. “What do you think,” Finn asked.

“Well, the Olara family is fairly new to the scene. They definitely weren’t around during the Rebellion, or if they were, they didn’t have this much money.” Lando’s voice grew low. “I asked around but none of my contacts seemed to know anything.”

“That’s good, right?”

  
Lando frowned. “I don’t know. Plus, she’s not the only being we need to consider.”

“Yeah, there was more than one unfriendly face around the table today.”

“The trading houses were always going to be a tough sell,” Lando said. “They like governments that aren’t going to get in their way, and for the most part, the Order did that—at least in the Core.”

“Except for the Hosnian system,” Finn bit out.

“Politicians have short memories when it suits their purpose.”

Finn tried not to let that bother him. “The delegates from Tinnel don’t like us much either.”

“No,” Lando said. “I think they had banked on making nice with the Order, and we screwed that up for them, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we did.” Finn smiled. “But the Chandrilans seem nice.”

“They’re a good bunch to have on our side.”

“At least we have someone on our side.” Finn took a deep breath and pushed off the railing, walking back into his room. “I guess we should get ready for dinner.”

“That ought to be interesting. I’ve heard we’re having Brentaalian specialties tonight.”

“Brentaalian specialties?”

“I don’t know,” Lando laughed as he crossed over to the door. “Something to look forward to.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

“Where are we supposed to be again,” Poe hissed.

Iolo looked up to the sky and begged the Force to give him the strength to deal with an anxious Poe Dameron. “Here,” he said. “Right where we are. We’re early.”

“How’s she gonna find us in all this?” Poe gestured at the dense foliage surrounding them. None of it was native to Brentaal, which was largely comprised of rocky terrain, so it must have cost the Olara family millions of credits to plant and maintain.

“She’s not. When we see her, we’ll come out. Until then, we stay here.” Poe started pacing a tight circle behind him. “Seriously, Poe, what’s up?”

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

Iolo frowned and turned back to watch the estate. Sirra was supposed to come out to a large stone fountain that separated the more formal gardens near the back of the compound from the dense growth he and Poe were hiding in. He wasn’t a big fan of the spot she’d chosen, especially as there were bushes and trees obstructing his view of the house. But he didn’t have any say in the matter, so he was trying to convince himself the meeting would go smoothly. Finally, he saw something. “I think that’s her,” Iolo said.

Poe squinted. “I can’t see anything.”

“You’re not Keshian, are you?”

“Oh what, so now you can see through bushes and trees?”

“Would you be quiet,” Iolo snapped. He turned back towards the garden and spotted Sirra. “That’s her.”

Poe and Iolo emerged from the brush and started walking towards the fountain. Iolo was about to call out, but Poe grabbed his arm and stopped. Sirra had turned from the fountain and was facing the house. She stepped forward, seemingly in conversation with someone neither man could see. Her voice suddenly got louder. “No…I…I…please!”

A blaster shot cut through the night, and Sirra fell.

“No,” Iolo roared.

Poe took off without him, running for the fountain. As he got there, he dove to the ground, picking up Sirra’s body, trying to help, but it was already too late. 

As he cradled her head, Poe seemed to lose himself in her blank, unblinking eyes. He shivered as he heard Snap’s voice yelling over the comms at Exegol. “Please,” Poe whispered. “Please don’t—” He felt tears burning his eyes as he remembered watching Snap’s ship explode.

There was shouting near the house. Lights came on all over the garden. Poe jerked out of his trance and saw a number of armed men running towards him. “There,” a voice yelled, “that’s the being who shot her!”

Poe looked for the killer and then had a sickening realization. He was alone, holding the body. “Kriff,” he said, getting up and raising his hands. “It’s not me,” he called out. A blast shot past him. “Hey!” Another blast came far too close to his head. Poe turned and spotted Iolo, who was still moving forward. Poe shook his head at him and took off in the other direction, hoping against hope that Iolo could find a safe place to hide.


	5. Till the End

Everyone in the dining room heard a scream followed by a shot.

“What’s happening,” one of the delegates demanded.

Finn rushed towards the window in time to see two beings down in the garden—one was cradling the other and Finn felt his stomach turn as he realized that the smaller one was dead. In the next moment, the other being stood, and Finn’s stomach flipped again because he’d recognize that hair anywhere. “Poe,” he whispered.

Suddenly, there were guards everywhere—in the garden, in the dining room—and so much shouting, but Finn stood transfixed on the spot Poe had just vacated, wondering what in the hell just happened.

“Finn,” someone called out.

Finn turned to see Lando walking towards him. “Security is suggesting we all retire to our rooms.”

Finn blinked, sparing one last look at the body in the garden, before moving to follow Lando. “Kriff,” he muttered, hoping Poe was safe.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

_So far so good_ , Poe thought as he crept up a back staircase. He tried to ignore the pain in his arm as he listened for any noise.

Poe had spent several uncomfortable minutes dodging thick bushes and climbing around large plants before he managed to lose the security forces—who were really well-equipped for a private home force—and was able to double back towards the house. Eventually, he found a maintenance entrance with a crappy lock near the north side of the compound. He jimmied the lock, and while sneaking inside might not have been the best decision, Poe didn’t have a lot of options. He figured if he could somehow find Finn, the two of them could figure something out, so he was now slowly making his way up a staircase. He’d been creeping up it for what felt like hours, and he didn’t dare check, but he was pretty sure he was wounded.

He used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off his face and stopped, contemplating climbing more stairs or taking a chance on the next floor. He leaned against the wall, hating how old and worn-out he suddenly felt. “Guess I haven’t been keeping up with my physical training lately,” he whispered to himself. “Have to remind Finn to remind me to hit the gym more often.” He slumped a little, trying to catch his breath.

There was a clang a few floors below him and then he heard voices echoing off the walls. _Guess that means I’m getting out here._ He slipped into a non-descript hallway with doors at regular intervals. _Guest rooms?_ He scanned the empty hall. _But how to find Finn?_ The sounds from the stairwell were getting louder, so Poe started forward.

He heard voices in an adjoining hall.

He quickly moved to a small alcove and prayed whoever it was didn’t see him. The two voices weren’t very far away, but before they could reach him, they stopped. Poe tried to slow his breathing, but he couldn’t help panting a bit as he strained to hear them. “—to send him a head’s up,” said the first one. Poe thought he recognized the timbre of it, but he’d give himself away if he peeked.

“Don’t worry; that’s the first thing I’m going to do,” said the second.

Poe closed his eyes and thanked the Force.

He’d know that second voice anywhere.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

“Don’t worry; that’s the first thing I’m going to do,” Finn said as he paused at his door. “Night, Lando.”

“Night, kid. And be careful,” Lando said.

“You too.” Finn walked into his room, quickly shedding his jacket.

He started for the console when he heard a knock on his door. “Yeah, Lando,” Finn asked, opening the door.

“Not Lando,” Poe said, pushing his way in. Finn could hear voices further down the hall. “I need your help, buddy.”

Finn stumbled backward as Poe came in and they both fell. “Ooof,” Finn said, feeling the full force of Poe’s weight pinning him to the floor. “How are you this heavy,” Finn asked, waiting for a smart reply, but then he saw Poe’s arm. “Kriff,” he said, pushing Poe and rolling them over. Staring down into Poe’s eyes, he couldn’t help but crack a tiny smile. Relief washed over him. “Poe,” he whispered.

“What’s left of him,” Poe croaked out. Finn quickly moved off of him. He started to help Poe up when there was a pounding on his door.

Finn called out, “Yeah?”

“Sir, can you open the door please?”

“Kriff,” Finn muttered, stalking to the door and hoping his body could block the view of his room. “Yes,” he said, opening the door. He leaned against the doorway as casually as possible.

There was a scruffy-looking security guard standing there, who looked out of place in the opulence of the rest of the compound. “We had a report that the suspect may have attempted to enter the house.”

Finn tried his hardest to look worried. “Here?”

“We think so, sir.”

“That’s terrible,” Finn said.

“Yes. We’re asking all of the guests if they may have seen or heard anything?”

“No,” Finn said. “Nothing here.”

The man tried to look past Finn’s shoulder into the room, but Finn was keeping himself firmly in the doorway. The man frowned. “Well, um, if you hear anything…”

“I’ll call security immediately. Thank you,” Finn said, closing the door and locking it. He spun, ready to help Poe, and found that the floor was empty. “What the kriff?” Finn dashed into the room, looking around. “Poe?”

He heard the water in the fresher and breathed a sigh of relief. “Dameron, what in the hell is going on?”

Poe was leaning against the sink carefully pulling at his shirt. “I got shot. In the arm. Again.”

“I can see that,” Finn said, slapping Poe’s hand away and peeling off his shirt. He winced at Poe’s wound. It wasn’t as bad as the one Poe had gotten on Ren’s Star Destroyer, but that wound had only been healed for a few months. Now, he was going to be stuck in a sling again. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

Poe shifted so that most of his weight was on the sink and the wall behind it while Finn cleaned his wound. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. “Well, first of all, hi. Good to see you.”

“Good to see you too, General.”

“How’s the conference going?”

“Good. Good. You know, the usual. Trade negotiations. Murder.”

Poe chuckled. “You’ll be happy to hear that I didn’t do it.”

“Thrilled,” Finn said. “Not that I thought you did it.”

“Everyone else does.”

“Yes, they do,” Finn said. “And that’s going to be a problem.”

“They aren’t going to want us to lead the government now?”

“Well that,” Finn said, “but also they’re probably going to arrest you for murder.”

“Only if they catch me,” Poe said with a rakish grin.

“Poe, why do you have to tempt the universe like that?”

Their eyes met and Finn’s worry battled with Poe’s nonchalance until Poe took a deep breath, all traces of mirth gone. “A few days ago, Iolo got a message from an old friend. She said something was up here at the conference.”

“Hence your little message about Corellia.”

“Exactly,” Poe said. “Anyway, since Iolo’s leg is busted up and because there was no one else to send—” Finn rolled his eyes at that. “—I came here with him to see what she wanted to say.”

“Did you get a chance to?”

“No,” Poe shook his head. “Someone killed her before we could talk.”

“Kriff,” Finn said, looking through the cabinets for some sort of gauze. He found something that would work and came back over, slowly wrapping it around Poe’s arm. “So, where’s Iolo?”

“No idea. Hopefully back at the hotel.”

“He wasn’t with you?”

“I got to the body first and when I realized what was happening, I ran for it. As far as I know, security went after me, not him, so he should’ve gotten away.” _Please say he got away._

“Give me his contact information and I can tell him you’re safe.”

“No go,” Poe said, wincing as Finn tied off the gauze.

“You really should have someone look at that.”

“Yeah,” Poe breathed out. He pushed off the wall and went into Finn’s room.

Finn followed him. “And why no go?”

“Sirra thought someone might be monitoring her transmissions.”

“You think it’s someone here?”

“It has to be someone here.” Poe fell into one of the overstuffed chairs and tipped his head back. “Just going to rest for a second and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Like hell you will.”

“Finn,” Poe started.

“Nope, no _Finn_. You’re not going to do anything stupid.”

“Too late.”

Finn shook his head and walked to the window, trying to remember who was in the dining room when the ruckus began. He could account for most of the delegates, but a few had stepped away to deal with other business. “One of the delegates from Tinnel was gone, so was one of them from Kuat. I can double check with Lando about the others. Oh, and Seeva had gone to the kitchen to check on the next course.”

“Next course? Kriff, you’re eating well.”

Finn shot him a quick smile. “You didn’t want to come back to the core, remember?”

Poe nodded and leaned back. “But also, someone in the dining room could’ve hired the hit.”

“Kriff,” Finn said again. “So now what?”

“Now, I leave.” Poe pushed himself up with a grunt.

“No, moof milker,” Finn said, grabbing Poe’s good arm, “I already said that wasn’t an option.”

“Finn—”

“Poe—”

Poe stared at Finn: deadly serious, wonderful Finn. “I’m putting you in danger,” Poe whispered.

“I don’t care,” Finn said.

“Finn,” Poe started again, pleading with his eyes.

“Not gonna work, General. We’re in this together. Till the end.”

Poe looked down at Finn’s hand around his arm. He felt a flutter in his chest. He slowly glanced up through half-closed eyes. “Till the end,” he whispered. Finn smiled but he didn’t let go of Poe’s arm. Poe licked his lips. “Finn, this is a crappy time to say it, but…”

“But,” Finn breathed out.

“I—”

An alarm blared throughout the house as an automated voice repeated, “Fire” over and over again.

“Kriff,” Poe yelled over the din. He started to make for the door, but Finn’s grip on his arm tightened. “What were you going to say,” Finn shouted over the noise.

“Really? Now?”

“Yeah. Now!”

Poe laughed. “We can’t get one good moment together, you know?”

“Painfully aware,” Finn said. “What were you going to tell me?”

Part of Poe wanted to run, but looking at Finn—at the eagerness in his eyes, just like when they had decided to steal that TIE and escape the Finalizer—he knew he had to do this. “I was gonna tell you that you’re the most amazing being in the galaxy, and so many times I’ve wanted to...” He swallowed, looking down. “But then it would be real, you know? And if it was real, I might mess it up and then…”

“Then?” Finn’s demeanor softened. “Sweetheart, you aren’t making sense.”

“Kriff, Finn, I’ve been in love with you for so long and when all of this is over,” Poe looked up, his eyes wide and hopeful, “I think we should date.”

“Date?” Finn laughed, pulling Poe close, so he didn’t have to yell. “I think we’ve already been dating for a while, Dameron, but making it official sounds good.”

“It does?”

“Yeah, it does.” Finn let go of Poe’s arm and nodded to the door. “I’ll check the hall.” As he got to the door, he turned. “Oh yeah, and I love you too.”


	6. Just Like Old Times

“Thank the Force we’re the same size,” Poe said, trying not to wince as he slipped on one of Finn’s jackets. His arm was throbbing but he didn’t care—at the moment, his head could be on fire, and he’d still be the happiest being in the galaxy.

Finn couldn’t stop smiling. “I think we’re good,” he said, scanning the hallway one last time and then pausing at the door to the stairwell. He peeked inside, listening intently. “Everyone’s below us.” He held the door open for Poe and followed him in.

“So, do we have an actual plan,” Poe asked as they headed down.

“Not really,” Finn said.

“Just like old times.”

“Don’t remind me,” Finn said as they reached the ground floor. He took a deep breath. “Just act casual and make for the perimeter.”

“Finn, buddy, you’re acting like I haven’t done this before.”

“No, I’m acting like you’re prone to getting caught, which you are, so act casual and head for the perimeter.”

Finn started to open the door when Poe caught his arm. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“If this goes wrong, have Lando run interference while you track down Iolo, okay?”

  
“That’s my plan.”

Poe hated how worried Finn looked. “Buddy, it’s not gonna go wrong.”

Finn cocked his head to the side and couldn’t help a tiny smile. “I know you didn’t just tempt the universe, Poe.”

Poe’s mouth turned up in an almost-smile. “Never.” He brushed his fingers along Finn’s cheek. “Stay safe.”

“You too,” Finn said. He opened the door.

There were dozens of beings milling about. Finn and Poe walked towards them, smiles on their faces. Lando caught sight of Finn and then did a double take when he saw Poe. “Oh boy,” he said under his breath. He smiled and made a big show of greeting Finn as Poe started to veer away from the group. “Finn! There you are! I was worried I was going to have to send someone in to rescue you!”

Finn was equally boisterous, chuckling, “Got turned around.” As he laughed and joked with Lando, he spotted Poe slipping into the gardens and hoped that this was going to work.

Lando leaned in, pretending to hug Finn. “Is he out?”

“I hope so.”

Lando leaned back and turned to survey the other delegates standing outside in the cool night air. “It’s been quite a night,” he said to no one in particular.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

About half a klick from the compound, Poe found Iolo sitting on a boulder waiting for him. He raised his hand in greeting. “You really have that much faith in my ability to get away?”

“No,” Iolo said, pushing himself up and limping towards Poe. “I had that much faith in the fire I started to distract everyone.”

Poe let out a loud laugh and slapped Iolo on the back as they started back towards their speeder.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Poe said, “I’m sorry about your friend.”

“Yeah,” Iolo said. “She…” He shook his head. “Whoever did this is going to regret it.”

Poe nodded. “That they are.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**The Next Day…**

Poe and Iolo sat in a café in the middle of Cormond. It was well after lunch, so the place was blessedly empty. Poe’s fingers tapped a regular beat on their table as he watched the door. He shifted in his seat and winced as the wound on his arm pulled.

“Need to have someone look at that,” Iolo said, finishing off his caf.

“Need our contact to get here already,” Poe said, his eyes fixed on the door.

“They’ll be here,” Iolo said, leaning back in his chair and trying to look relaxed.

Poe nodded, his face grim, as he continued staring at the door.

When they’d finally made it back to their hotel the previous night, they’d immediately reached out to Rose, Connix, and Maz, looking for contacts on Brentaal who might be able to help. This morning, Maz had messaged them that she’d found a government official who was eager to talk.

“I hope this isn’t a trap,” Poe muttered.

“I don’t think Sirra set us up,” Iolo said.

“Neither do I, but it’s clear someone was onto her, and if they’re at the Olara Compound, that means they’re either rich or well-connected or both.”

“True,” Iolo said. “But we trust Maz.” He emptied his cup and rose. “More caf?”

Poe shook his head, and Iolo went to find their server.

Poe replayed the events of the previous night in his head for what felt like the millionth time: watching Sirra fall, being chased by security, finding Finn…Poe smiled despite himself. His time in Finn’s room last night was quickly becoming one of his favorite memories—right after that moment on the Finalizer when a plucky young Stormtrooper had removed his helmet and the time he’d spotted Finn after Exegol.

Still, they were up to their ears in trouble, and he couldn’t afford to get distracted now.

A small being walked into the café, nervously looking left and then right. Poe stood. “Reegan?”

They nodded and made their way over. Poe held out his hand. “Poe Dameron.”

“I thought there were two…”

“Lo,” Poe called, and Iolo came trotting out from around the counter, a hot cup of caf in hand. “This is Iolo Arana,” he said.

“Pleased to meet you,” Reegan said, sitting at their table.

“We’re just happy you could meet with us on such short notice,” Iolo said.

Reegan nodded and pulled a datapad out of their bag. “Maz said you were here to investigate something happening at Olara House, yes?”

Iolo said, “My friend Sirra sent me a message that something bad was going on at the conference there this week. She was worried, but she didn’t want to say anything over a comm.” Reegan nodded, typing as Iolo continued, “So, we set up a meeting last night, but before we could meet her, she…” Iolo swallowed hard.

“Do you know anything about the suspect Olara House is searching for?”

Poe blushed and Iolo looked at him, raising his eyebrow. Poe took a deep breath and raised his hand. “That would be me,” he said, quietly. Reegan’s eyes grew wide. “I didn’t kill her,” Poe said. “Just so we’re clear.” He leaned forward. “We saw her at the meeting point and then she seemed to be talking to someone we couldn’t see—”

“The bushes were in the way,” Iolo added.

“Yeah,” Poe continued, “then, Sirra screams and falls, and I run to see if I can help her, but it was too late.” Poe looked down, remembering the sight of her eyes. He shuddered and shook his head. “Next thing I know, there’s security everywhere and I take off.”

“And you,” Reegan asked Iolo.

“I hid in the gardens, waiting until it was clear.”

Reegan looked from Poe to Iolo. “I don’t suppose you’d know anything about the fire at Olara House last night?”

It was Iolo’s turn to blush, his eyes suddenly focused on his cup. “Ummm, yeah, that was me. I figured Poe needed the distraction.”

“Which I did,” Poe added.

Reegan leaned back in their chair and sat quietly for a moment processing everything they’d said. Poe and Iolo traded a worried look. Finally, Reegan sighed and said, “Maz said you were prone to getting into trouble, but…” They shook their head and looked at Poe. “You’re really a General in the Resistance?”

“Yes?” Iolo elbowed Poe in the ribs. “I mean, yes,” Poe said. He then cracked a tiny smile. “Leia Organa apparently thought I’d grow into the job.”

“Apparently,” Reegan said, still a bit skeptical. They picked up their datapad. “I don’t know how much Maz told you about me, but I work for the Brentaalian Security Forces. While most of our organization is focused on threats from without, my branch focuses on threats from within, and for the past year, we’ve been hearing some distressing rumors about House Olara.”

“Like,” Iolo asked.

“Money laundering, for one. Illegal arms shipments for another.”

“They were working with the Order,” Poe asked, aghast.

Reegan shook their head. “No, but we think they may be in league with one or more of the criminal syndicates.”

“Seeva may be behind all of this?”

Reegan pressed their lips together. “We aren’t sure. And we don’t have any evidence to charge her or anyone else directly connected to House Olara.” They held out their datapad to Poe, who started scanning it as Reegan continued, “House Olara appeared virtually out of nowhere ten years ago. Seeva Olara built her compound and threw her money around, and within a year, she was a force to be reckoned with here on Brentaal. Lots of political power very quickly, but for the most part, she seemed benign. She weighs in on issues from time to time, gives her money to certain political groups, but she seems content to stay on the sidelines. Honestly, my office wouldn’t have become interested in her at all if she didn’t have a nasty habit of losing personnel.”

“Surely that’s to be expected,” Iolo started.

“Over the past eight years, she’s had ten assistants disappear and another four die under suspicious circumstances.”

“Kriff,” Poe said. “How did we not know this?”

“Because she pays a lot of money to keep it quiet, and there is always a convenient suspect or excuse.” Reegan leaned back in their chair. “Again, we have no evidence against her, just suspicions.”

“But surely there’s got to be more than just the missing assistants,” Iolo asked.

Reegan nodded. “That alone probably wouldn’t have been enough to open an investigation but once that put Olara House on our radar, we started noticing other things: strange visitors to the compound, irregular credit transfers, and just the sheer amount of times that the Olaras used Aurodium coin instead of credits in making major purchases here on Brentaal.”

“Money laundering,” Poe said.

Reegan nodded. “That’s what we think.”

Poe put down Reegan’s datapad and asked, “How do we help each other then?”

Reegan picked up the datapad and began flicking through information. “Sirra Durrun was a Keshian, and according to our records, her family are still on Keshi.”

“That’s right,” Iolo said.

“Were you close?”

“Close enough.”

“You could get her family to appoint you their representative to go and get her belongings?”

Iolo smiled. “I could certainly do that.”

“Good,” Reegan said.

“And me,” Poe asked.

Reegan tapped their finger on their datapad. “While I believe you didn’t kill her, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help if any of the Olara House staff identify you. However, Maz led me to believe that you’ve done some espionage work in the past?”

Iolo started chuckling. “If you can call it that.”

Poe shot Iolo a scathing look. “I’ve done a bit.” Reegan looked reluctant. “What were you thinking,” Poe asked.

“We’ve never been able to place anyone inside House Olara. Seeva seems to have an uncanny ability to weed out our agents. While having Mr. Arana pose as one of Miss Durran’s family members gets him inside, we can’t be sure he would have the opportunity to look around alone. But if you,” they looked at Poe, “were able to slip in there as well…” Reegan shrugged. “They say two pairs of eyes are better than one, and if either of you were to find evidence of any wrong-doing…”

“That would get you in the front door, so to speak?”

Reegan smiled. “Yes, it would.”

“Well, then, I guess I’m sneaking back into House Olara tonight,” Poe said.

Iolo closed his eyes. “This is going to be fun.”

“You and I definitely have a different idea of fun, buddy.”


	7. A Little Help

“You sure about this, kid?”

“No,” Finn said, scanning the hallway housing the delegates from Kuat. “But someone has to do it.”

Lando smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep everyone busy, so you do what you need to do and hopefully, we’ll have something for Poe and Iolo when they get in touch.”

“Hopefully,” Finn said, before giving Lando a nod and starting down the hall.

Lando headed downstairs to introduce a whole new slate of proposals from the Resistance that were sure to get the other delegates arguing for the next few hours.

Finn took a breath, staring at the first door he came to and hoping that some of the skills Poe had been teaching him from Poe’s spice running days were about to pay off.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

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Iolo stood at the main entrance of the Olara compound, fidgeting in his new clothes and leaning heavily on his healthy leg. Odds were good that Seeva Olara didn’t know he was with the Resistance, and Reegan had helped him convince Sirra’s family to let him come and claim her belongings, but he still couldn’t quite calm down.

The door opened and a bored-looking servant looked him over. “Yes?”

“I’m Iolo. Miss Durrun’s cousin. I’m here to get her things.”

“Yes, sir.” The servant held the door open and ushered Iolo in. “This way, please.” He led Iolo into an opulent sitting room and indicated that Iolo should take a seat. Iolo winced as he sat down, rubbing his bad leg and promising himself several days of bed rest when this whole mess was cleaned up.

Several minutes later, Seeva Olara walked in. “Mr. Durran, I’m Seeva Olara. I’m so sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.”

Iolo looked down, pretending to get choked up. He shook his head. “I still can’t believe…”

Seeva nodded, coming to sit down next to him and taking his hand. “I know. It’s such a shock. Sirra was so young.”

Iolo sighed and looked up at her, hopeful. “Do they have any suspects?”

Seeva smiled, putting his hand down. “Thankfully, yes. There were witnesses who saw the being who did it. He fled, but I have it on good authority that he will soon be apprehended.”

“Good,” Iolo said. “That will make the family happy.”

Seeva patted his knee and said, “Can I get you anything? A refreshment?”

“No,” Iolo said. “If you can just have someone show me to Sirra’s room, I’ll start packing it up and—”

“Oh, there’s no need,” Seeva said. She turned and called out towards the hallway. “Carth, can you have the crates from Sirra’s room brought down please.”

Iolo could hear someone scuttling away and his mind started racing—there was no way he was going to be able to poke around now; that meant everything was going to rest on Poe’s ability to get in and not get caught. Iolo grimaced before plastering a fake smile on his face. “Thank you so much, Madame Olara. This means a great deal to us.”

“Of course, Mr. Durran,” she said. “And while Carth and the others are bringing down the crates, perhaps you’d be so kind as to join me and my guests for dinner?”

Iolo smiled. “I’d love to, Ma’am.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

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Finn strode over to where Lando was enjoying a drink with one of the Chandrillan delegates. “I’m sorry,” Finn said, “could I borrow my friend here for a moment?”

The delegate nodded and Finn pulled Lando far enough away not to be overheard. “So,” Lando asked.

Finn shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“I looked through the rooms of every delegate here and,” Finn sighed, “nothing. I mean, some of them have some interesting taste in holos and I think a few of them may be…” he searched for the right words, “ _joining their power couplings_ , if you know what I mean?”

Lando choked on his drink, chortling. “You can just say _sex_ , kid. I know how meetings like this work.” Finn raised an eyebrow at Lando, who said, “What?”

“Been _joining your power couplings_?”

“Let’s just say that once we figure out who the murderer is, I’m hoping to spend some more time with that very nice delegate from Chandrilla.”

Finn closed his eyes, blushing slighting. “I didn’t want to know that,” he muttered.

“Don’t ask if you can’t handle the answer,” Lando said. “What’s our plan now?”

“I don’t know,” Finn said. “Either one of them covered their tracks really good, or…”

“Or, we’re looking at someone from the Olara House,” Lando finished.

“Yep,” Finn said. He was about to say something else when he spied Seeva walking in with someone very familiar.

“Is that,” Lando whispered.

“Yes,” Finn breathed out.

“But where’s Poe?”

Finn shrugged.

“Everyone,” Seeva said in a loud voice, “I’d like to introduce Iolo Durran, a cousin of our dearly departed Ms. Sirra Durran. He’ll be joining us for dinner.” She then took Iolo over to meet the delegates from Kuat.

“Does this mean that Poe and Iolo have a plan,” Lando asked Finn.

“No idea,” he said. “But for now, let’s play along with it.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

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Poe frowned as he made his way through the massive garage on the northeastern side of the Olara compound. He unclenched his hands and licked his lips, searching for an entrance to the house. It had been a long time since he’d done any spywork as the past few years had definitely blunted the thrill he used to get from it. After getting captured on Jakku and “interrogated” on the Finalizer, undercover work had lost any trace of adventure it might once have held.

He found a door and took a deep breath, closing his eyes and going over what he knew of the compound’s layout in his head. _I can do this._ As he opened the door and carefully jogged down the hallway, he thought about the last few years and what had changed for him—it wasn’t just the Finalizer. There was something else.

_Finn._

Seeing Finn’s body being carried off the Falcon after Starkiller. Hearing Finn get captured on the _Supremacy._ Thinking Finn was killed on Crait. Thinking they were all going to die in those sinking fields on Pasaana. During his time in the Navy and the Resistance, even in his brief stint with the spice runners, Poe had lost friends and colleagues, but watching Finn get hurt, thinking that Finn might not make it back to him—that was…Poe shuddered. It was far worse than anything he could imagine, and he knew deep in his bones that his newfound caution had as much to do with Finn as it did with him getting older or wiser. Poe was still going to take risks—that was in his very blood—but now, he gave careful thought to the consequences because now it wasn’t just him.

He had Finn to think about too.

“We really have been dating,” Poe mumbled as he started up a staircase. “Practically married already.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

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One of the servants slipped Finn a piece of flimsi that read:

_Meet me in the library on the second floor._

_~Poe_

Finn frowned at the note. Poe had a reputation as reckless daredevil, but Finn had been on enough missions with him to know that what others took as recklessness was typically Poe putting himself in harm’s way so that other beings would be safe. Writing Finn a note and handing it to a servant to pass to Finn in the middle of dinner was a sloppy kind of reckless that definitely wasn’t Poe.

_So who wants me to think it’s Poe? Who knows he’s on Brentaal?_

It was obviously a trap, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to check it out.

Finn excused himself from the table and quickly made his way up to the library. There were two weak lamps at either end of the cavernous space, making it the perfect place to stage an ambush. Finn’s hand wandered under his jacket to his back where he kept his spare blaster. There weren’t supposed to be any arms at the conference, but after the murder, Finn felt it best to keep something on himself. He had no doubt that most of the other delegates felt the same way too.

He started forward, scanning the space, and he’d made it about halfway when every fiber of his being screamed at him that he was in danger. He ducked just as a blast zoomed past.

Finn rolled onto the floor and sprinted towards a chair as another blast zoomed through the darkness. He grunted in surprise as a third blast hit the chair he was using as cover and he fell to the ground, crawling towards a table that he quickly flipped on its side.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

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Poe froze when he heard the first shot. When he heard the second, he took off running—for some reason he just knew that Finn was in danger.

He raced into the library, stopping short as a blast landed right at his feet. “Kriff,” he yelped, diving behind a chair.

“There’s two of them,” Finn shouted.

“Good to know,” Poe called out. He slunk around the chair, trying to scan the dark space. “This would be a great time to use the Force, you know.”

“That’s not how the Force works,” Finn said, rising up and firing in the direction of one of the shooters. Two blasts answered his.

Poe popped up and shot in that same direction. “You sure about that?”

Finn slowly moved closer to the end of the room housing the shooters. “Am I sure I know more about the Force than you do? Hmmmmmm, let me think about that… Yes,” he said, taking a shot and hitting one of the shooters, who fell with a loud thud.

“Nice shot,” Poe said, slowly moving towards Finn.

“I try,” Finn said, ducking as the other shooter started to blast indiscriminately in his direction. “A little help,” Finn called out.

Poe stood and shot the second shooter, who toppled over backward.

Finn stood and walked over to where the second shooter fell. “You see where the first one went?”

Poe walked up beside him, nodding to their right. “Over by the bookcase.”

Finn’s breaths were still coming quick. He turned to Poe, holstering his blaster. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Poe said, looking around. “We probably ought to…”

“Follow me.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Finn locked the door behind them and took a long, deep breath.

Poe marched in and sat on Finn’s bed, staring at the flimsi. “I didn’t write this.”

“I know you didn’t write it,” Finn said, pushing off the door and stalking into his room.

“Then why did you go?”

“Because I wanted to know what they had planned for me.”

Poe’s lips pressed together. “You knowingly walked into a trap?”

Finn leaned against the table opposite the bed. “Yeah, Dameron, I did.”

“Are you out of—”

“No,” Finn barked. “I was aware of the situation and I took a calculated risk.”

“Calculated risk?”

“Yes. Calculated risk.”

Poe snorted. Finn raised an eyebrow. Poe’s eyes narrowed. Then Finn’s did. They had a silent argument until Finn stomped over to Poe. “We’re trying to find a murderer, Poe.”

Poe stood, crowding into Finn’s space. “Well aware of that, Finn. I’d just prefer it if my boyfriend didn’t go rushing headlong into trouble.”

Finn let out a mirthless laugh. “Oh, that’s rich coming from you.”

Poe’s face went scarlet. “Well…Yeah, but you’re supposed to be the mature one!”

“You’re a decade older than me!”

“Nine years, Finn.”

“Oh right,” Finn snarked. “My apologies.”

Poe stepped up so that he and Finn were nose to nose. “Are we really having this argument right now?”

“I think we are,” Finn grit out.

“Are we arguing because we’re mad or—”

“Pretty sure it’s foreplay, Dameron,” Finn said.

“Yeah,” Poe said, sucking in a quick breath. “That’s what I figured.” He and Finn stared at each other for another second, their chests heaving. Then, Poe blinked and stepped back. “Kriff. What is wrong with us?”

Finn stepped back, shaking his head. “I have no idea. It’s like…” He moved his hands around, searching for the right words and finally just walked over and flopped onto the bed.

Poe sat down next to him, staring out the window. Eventually, he said, “During the war, I didn’t want to say anything because—”

“—because there was a good chance at least one of us wasn’t going to make it.”

“Yeah,” Poe said. “And I couldn’t,” he looked down, “I had to pretend that it wasn’t there, you know?”

“Yeah,” Finn said, “I know.” He looked over at Poe. “But now?”

“Now,” Poe said, turning to look at Finn. His voice was small and soft as he said, “Finn, if anything ever happened to you, I, I, I…”

Finn cupped Poe’s face in his hand. “I’m right here.”

“Just don’t walk into any more traps, okay,” Poe whispered. “I love our banter, but I’m tired of pretending it doesn’t mean something.”

Finn smiled, feeling his eyes well up. He rubbed his thumb across Poe’s cheek. “I promise.” He tilted Poe’s head up so Poe was looking at him. “But that goes both ways.”

Poe nodded. “I promise.” He stared into Finn’s deep brown eyes and said, “We didn’t kiss.”

“What?”

“We didn’t kiss. Last night when…”

“Oh. Right.”

“I think we should kiss.”

Finn smiled. “I think we should kiss too.”

“Probably a lot,” Poe added.

“Definitely,” Finn said.

“We’ll need a lot of practice,” Poe said, leaning into Finn. “I mean, we want to get it right.”

“Definitely want to get it right.” Finn’s free hand wound into Poe’s hair and Poe’s eyes fell closed as he pushed into Finn’s hand. “You like that,” Finn whispered.

“Mmmmmmm,” Poe hummed.

“Gonna have to remember that,” Finn said, pressing his lips to Poe’s.


	8. A Brushed Nickel Washer

Finn had kissed and been kissed before, but he’d never wanted a kiss as badly as he wanted this, and it didn’t just live up to his expectations, it exceeded them.

One of Poe’s hands was on his waist, pulling him closer, while the other slid down from his cheek to his arm and was holding onto him as if Poe’s life depended on it. And while the kiss had started chastely enough, Poe was now groaning as Finn nipped his lower lip.

Finn was pretty sure this was the best feeling in the world—being in Poe Dameron’s arms—and he couldn’t help his smile as Poe’s tongue traced his lips.

Poe giggled as Finn moved one of his hands under his shirt, dancing his fingers over the skin at the small of Poe’s back, but the next second he was gasping as Finn’s very clever mouth moved from his lips to his neck. Poe’s eyes screwed shut and he rose on his toes as Finn sucked at the juncture between Poe’s throat and shoulder. Finn stopped just long enough to murmur, “Definitely gonna remember that.”

“Evil,” Poe gulped. “Pure evil,” he said as he started unbuttoning Finn’s jacket.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

As the dinner guests started leaving the dining room, Lando caught up with Iolo and gave him a blinding smile. “Mr. Durran?”

“Yes,” Iolo asked.

“Lando Calrissian,” Lando said, holding out his hand. “I wanted to share my condolences.”

Iolo bowed his head. “Thank you.”

“I take it you’re from Keshi?”

“Yes,” Iolo said. “I’m from a village just outside the capital.”

“Ahhh,” Lando said. “You wouldn’t be familiar with Old Mardga would you?”

Iolo had no idea who or what that was, but he played along. “I think just about everyone knows Old Mardga.”

Lando laughed and clapped Iolo on the back, leading him away from the rest of the group. “It’s been so long since I’ve been to Keshi. You’ll have to tell me everything that’s been happening there.”

“Of, of course,” Iolo said, following Lando as he swept them towards a staircase.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Finn wasn’t sure when they’d managed to get horizontal or when he’d lost his shoes—and most of his clothes, for that matter—but he really didn’t care. Poe’s hands were teasing and pinching him as Poe trailed a series of kisses down Finn’s chest, and Finn was pretty sure he was going to combust if he didn’t get to return the favor soon.

As Poe’s mouth latched onto one of his nipples, Finn’s whole body bucked, and he wailed out Poe’s name. Poe looked up, his eyes crinkling with mischief. “Definitely gonna remember that,” he said.

Finn laughed, tugging at Poe’s shoulders and dragging him back up for a kiss. “That mouth,” Finn said, cupping Poe’s face in his hands and giving him a ferocious kiss. Poe’s whole body shivered. “We should’ve been doing this since Crait,” he said, breathlessly.

“We should’ve been doing this since the kriffing Finalizer,” Finn growled, pulling him back in.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

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Iolo was leaning as close to Lando as possible, trying to keep up with the older man’s pace. “—and we’re pretty sure it’s Seeva or one of her people, but we don’t have any proof.”

“Finn couldn’t find anything in any of the other delegates’ rooms, so our best guess was someone here too, and—” Lando paused outside of Finn’s room. Iolo started to talk and Lando held up his hand. “Listen,” he whispered.

They both heard a groan and then movement. Iolo’s eyes grew big and Lando pulled out a small blaster before keying in the code to Finn’s door. As soon as the door opened, both men flew in.

“Finn,” Lando called out before stopping abruptly next to the bed. “Kriff!”

Iolo heard a crash and a groan as he stumbled into Lando with a loud a yelp. “What the hell?” He peered around Lando at the bed. “What the—” He covered his eyes, backing up. “Seriously, Dameron! Keep it in your pants!”

Poe squeaked and grabbed for a blanket to cover himself while Finn tried to scramble off the floor. Poe offered Finn his hand, pulling him back onto the bed.

Lando shook his head, looking up. “It’s like being with Han and Leia all over again.” He turned and said, “We’ll give you two a moment.” He grabbed Iolo’s arm and turned him around.

Finn mouthed _sorry_ to Poe as he started looking for his clothes.

Poe muttered, “One of these days, you and I are going to have an hour to ourselves when no one is getting murdered or asking us to create a new government and…” He looked around the bed. “Have you seen my other boot?” Finn searched the floor and then grabbed the boot, handing it to Poe. “Thanks.”

“Where’s my necklace,” Finn asked, getting on his hands and knees and searching under the bed.

“Are you two decent enough for us to—”

“You can turn around,” Poe said. “We’re fine.” He pulled on his boots and ran a quick hand through his hair. “So, what are you doing here?”

“We thought it might be wise to regroup,” Iolo said. “Didn’t realize we were off the clock,” he said with a smile.

Poe nodded to the table and walked to it, slumping into a seat. “Technically, I can demote you. You know that, right?”

“Highly unlikely,” Iolo said, limping over to the chair opposite Poe and sitting down.

“Found it,” Finn said, popping up from under the bed with a silver chain with a brushed nickel washer hanging on it. He slipped it around his neck and started toward the table when Iolo said, “Wait.”

“What?”

Poe looked from Finn to Iolo and then went pale. “Not now, Lo.”

“Oh, I think yes _now_ , Poe.” Iolo got up and walked over to Finn, taking the washer in his hand and examining it. “This is _your_ necklace?”

Finn looked at the necklace and then to Poe. “Yes?”

“Since when?”

Poe groaned and covered his face in his hands. “We don’t have time for this,” he grumbled.

“Normally I’d agree,” Lando said, taking a seat, “but I think I want to see how this plays out.”

Poe huffed and let his head fall onto the table. “Great.”

Finn wasn’t quite sure what was going on. He plucked the necklace out of Iolo’s hand and went to sit next to Poe. “Poe gave it to me just before Exegol.”

“Oh, Poe _gave_ it to you,” Iolo said, walking to the table. “He gave it to you.” He sat. “And did Poe tell you anything about it?”

Finn looked from Poe, who had his head buried in his hands and then to Iolo. “He said it was for luck.”

Iolo rolled his eyes. “Really, Dameron?”

“We were busy,” Poe mumbled.

“For the last six months,” Iolo asked.

“Yeah,” Poe said from under his hands. “Busy doing General stuff.”

“Kriff,” Iolo said. He shook his head and gave Finn a sympathetic look. “Sometime soon you need to ask the General about the necklace.”

“Poe,” Finn asked, nudging Poe’s arms.

Poe rubbed his hand over his face and turned his head to Finn. “You know what we were talking about earlier?”

“Yes.”

“This is related to that,” Poe said, letting his head fall back to the table.

Finn sighed and looked at the necklace, and then it clicked into place. “This was your mother’s, wasn’t it?”

Poe nodded.

“Dameron,” he said, his voice a mixture of affection and annoyance. “We’re definitely going to talk when this is over.”

“Yep,” Poe’s muffled voice replied.

Finn turned to Lando. “But for now, we need a plan.”

“And we should probably tell them that someone tried to kill you,” Poe said, sitting up.

“What,” Iolo yelled.

“Keep it down,” Poe hissed.

“Someone tried to kill you,” Lando asked.

Finn nodded. “That note I got at dinner was a set up. Thankfully Poe heard the blasterfire and gave me some backup.”

“Well, kriff,” Iolo said, leaning back in his chair. “So, at this point, we’ve got to assume that the whole household is against us, right?”

“Yep,” Finn said.

“Then let’s use that to our advantage,” Lando said with a sly smile on his face.


	9. Now What?

Iolo hobbled back downstairs with instructions to go through Sirra’s belongings thoroughly once he was away from the compound and to contact both Poe and Reegan if he found anything interesting.

He frowned as he looked at the two crates sitting next to the main entrance, feeling his wounded leg throbbing and realizing there was no way he was going to be able to get back to his hotel without some help.

A servant came up behind him. “Should I call you a vehicle, sir?”

“Please,” Iolo said, hoping that Finn, Poe, and Lando would be okay while he searched the crates.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

“You want me to what now,” Finn asked, trying to keep his voice level.

“I want you to go downstairs in the morning and confront Seeva directly,” Lando said. “I’ll be there with you, and it should give Poe enough cover to go through her room. Plus, if we’re lucky, Iolo will find something in the meantime and bring in the cavalry.”

Finn traded a worried look with Poe, who leaned forward. “What makes you think she won’t just shoot him?”

“In front of the other delegates?”

“What if she tries to get him to talk to her _in private_ ,” Poe asked.

“I’ll keep that from happening,” Lando said.

“What if she decides to take us all out—you, me, the other delegates,” Finn asked.

“If it really is her who is behind all of this, there must be a lot of money riding on keeping the operation going. I can’t imagine she’d burn everything to the ground before exhausting all other options.” Lando shrugged. “I wouldn’t.”

“That’s not reassuring,” Poe said, running a hand through his hair. “Plus, we have to assume she knows I’m here.”

“And that I’m planning something after tonight’s shootout,” Finn added.

“Sometimes giving people what they expect throws them off their game,” Lando said with a grin.

“And sometimes it just means they’re ready when you come for them,” Finn muttered.

“Don’t worry,” Lando said. “I’ve got this.”

Poe turned to Finn. “He’s not telling us something.”

“Oh yeah, definitely not telling us something,” Finn said.

“Will you two trust me,” Lando said.

“Did that work with Han and Luke,” Finn asked.

“Some of the time,” Lando replied.

Finn rolled his eyes and stood up. “Well, seeing as we don’t exactly have any other ideas…”

Poe leaned back in his chair and sighed. “A bad plan today is better than the perfect plan tomorrow?”

“I hate that saying,” Finn said, starting to pace.

“Will you two calm down,” Lando said, getting up and heading to the door. “It’s going to be fine.”

Finn and Poe both groaned. “Lando,” Poe said.

“Why would you curse us like that,” Finn added.

Lando chuckled, shaking his head. “Get some sleep, you two.” The door closed behind him.

Finn let out a breath and turned to Poe. “So now what?”

“Sleep,” Poe said.

“I don’t think I can sleep just yet,” Finn said, walking back over and sitting down next to Poe. “He has a plan,” Finn said.

“Oh yeah, that’s obvious, but he’s not telling us,” Poe said.

“Nope.”

“Keeping it to himself,” Poe said.

“It’s so kriffing irritating,” Finn said. “We’re not children.”

“Exactly,” Poe said, slapping the table, “We’re the kriffing leaders of the Resistance!”

“Yeah, we should know _all_ of the plan, not just the parts he wants to tell us,” Finn said. He started drumming his fingers on the table. “I should go to his room and demand to know what’s going on.”

“Won’t work,” Poe said, pouting.

“I know it won’t,” Finn said, crossing his arms and sitting back.

“Stupid kriffing galactic hero,” Poe muttered.

“I completely understand why he and Han got along,” Finn grumbled. “ _I have a plan but I’m not gonna tell you about it until we're just about to crash onto Starkiller_.”

Poe sat for a moment, fuming, before he said, “Well, to be fair…” Finn raised an eyebrow. Poe stammered, “I, I’m just saying that you didn’t exactly have a plan for lowering Starkiller’s shields when you got there, even though you might have said you did?”

“They had Rey!” Finn’s eyes narrowed. “Besides, I’m wondering how many times the great Poe Dameron ignored orders to follow a plan he didn’t tell anyone else about?”

Poe’s lips were pressed in a thin line. “Hardly ever,” he said.

“Mmmmmmm-hmmmmmm,” Finn said, rocking in his chair. “That’s what I thought.”

They both stewed in the silence.

“So now what,” Poe asked.

Finn shrugged.

“I hate this,” Poe said, getting up and walking to the door and then back. “I really, really hate this.”

Finn watched him walk two more rounds before he said, “Sit down.”

Poe scowled. “Don’t want to sit.”

Finn took a deep breath. “Dameron,” he said, pulling out Poe’s chair and pointing to it. “We’re both really good at working each other up and we’re both really good at avoiding things and we both suck at waiting.”

Poe dropped into the chair. “I don’t like this,” he said.

“No,” Finn said. “Me either.” He sighed. “But maybe we’re also trying to avoid talking about…”

“Probably,” Poe admitted. He started tracing imaginary lines on the table. “Why are we so bad at this?”

Finn reached over and stilled Poe’s hand, interlacing their fingers. He stared at their hands and started rubbing his thumb along the back of Poe’s hand. “I didn’t understand it when I was in the Order,” he said. “I just felt different. Like I was doing something wrong.” His voice got quiet. “And they were always telling me that caring was bad, that protecting Slip was bad, but…” His mouth turned up slightly as he stared at their hands.

“It’s not wrong,” Poe whispered.

“I know,” Finn said. He squeezed Poe’s hand and looked up. “With you and Rey and Rose and Leia and, and all of them, I found people who cared.” He pulled Poe’s hand to his mouth and pressed a light kiss to it. “People who loved.” He lowered their hands slowly. Finally, he asked, “What if this changes us?”

Poe whispered, “I don’t know.” He stared into Finn’s eyes. “But I think it has to. Change us, I mean. I think that’s what we’re supposed to do now, right?”

Finn nodded, reaching over for Poe’s cheek, smiling at the rub of Poe’s stubble against his skin. “Yeah, I know.” He pressed his eyes closed, trying to stop his tears. “I just never want to lose you, Dameron.”

“Me, either,” Poe breathed out.

He pulled Finn towards him and Finn leaned his head into Poe’s chest. “I thought once the war was over, once the danger was…” Finn’s hand clenched. “We’re still in danger.”

“I wanted you to be able to relax, to have a life away from all of this, this…kriff,” Poe growled. Neither of them had to say it wasn’t fair; they both knew it. Poe shook his head, got up, and started pacing again. “In the past, I just figured that, that if I could find a few moments to be with a being…maybe spend our downtime together, that that was enough, you know? If we never saw each other again then…then that was it.” He stopped walking and stared at Finn as if he was seeing him for the first time all over again. “And then you barged into my life and all I could think was that if anything ever happened to you, I’d never get over it.”

Finn nodded, standing and walking over to Poe. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “Sometimes you have to take a chance and hope it will work out,” he said.

“Like busting a pilot out of interrogation and hoping he can fly a TIE?”

“Exactly like that,” Finn said. “Poe Dameron, you are my best friend in the galaxy and I cherish our friendship more than anything, but I think we need to stop hiding behind it and accept the fact that we’re two parts of one whole and ignoring our hearts isn’t doing either of us any good. I have to believe that the Force brought us together and if we’ve survived this long, then I’m going to have faith that we can keep on surviving. Together.”

“Together,” Poe said. He reached out for Finn’s hand. “Co-Generals. Romantic Partners. Lovers. Whatever you want to call it, I’m in.”

“About damn time, Dameron,” Finn said with a smile.

Poe nodded, wiping his good arm across his face, trying to stop his tears. He hiccupped out a laugh. “I can’t believe I was so scared of that.”

Finn reached over, sliding his thumb over a tear on one of Poe’s cheeks. He wore a sad smile. “I think we know better than most how fragile this is, how easy it is to lose someone or end up on other ends of the galaxy.”

“So you hide behind the job.”

“Or the flirting and the bickering,” Finn said.

“And you make yourself miserable,” Poe said.

“All because you’re scared.” He shook his head and then leaned back, scrubbing his hands over his face. Even with the uncertainty of the next day looming over them, he felt lighter than he had in a long while. “We should go to bed, Dameron.”

Poe nodded, following Finn over to the bed. “Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“You really think it was the Force that brought us together?”

Finn smiled a bright, blinding smile as he crawled into bed and nodded for Poe to do the same. As Poe scooted over next to him, he wrapped an arm around him and kissed the top of Poe’s head. “I know it did.”

Poe closed his eyes, making a contented little humming sound. “I thought so.”

“Get some sleep, General. Big day tomorrow.”

“You too, Finn,” Poe said, snuggling into Finn’s side. “Night.”

“Night,” Finn said, before reaching over and turning out the lights. As his eyes closed, he savored the warmth of the one being in the entire universe that he truly considered his partner. He soon found himself slipping off into pleasant dreams about warm nights and lively eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is staying safe out there. Take care of yourselves!


	10. Everything. Anything.

It was still dark, and the compound was quiet. Finn could hear a soft breeze rushing past the rocky terrain outside. Poe was curled up next to him, his head nuzzled into Finn’s side and one leg wrapped around Finn’s. Finn’s arm draped down Poe’s back, holding the pilot safe.

He always knew Poe was a cuddler, and honestly, this didn’t feel new. Sure, they’d never said the words before, but even before Exegol, they were likely to hold each other—sometimes ending up in the same bed as nightmares plagued one or the other, or on the rare occasion, both of them. No, this was normal, and that was what had Finn staring at the ceiling. “Why did it take us so long to talk,” he whispered.

Poe’s nose nudged Finn’s side, and he mumbled, “Because this war just won’t end.”

Finn squeezed Poe and leaned over to place a kiss on his head. “Didn’t know you were up.”

“You’re thinking loudly,” Poe said, his voice sleepy. He stretched and yawned and turned to Finn, slowly opening his eyes. “Wanna talk about it?”

Finn shook his head.

Poe turned so that his chin was now on Finn’s chest. He stared up at Finn, his eyelashes fluttering in a way that made Finn feel warm all over. He blinked in the low light of the room. “Stars, but you are beautiful.”

Finn smiled, his eyes taking Poe in. “You too,” he said. “Beautiful.”

Poe sighed, “For what it’s worth, I don’t think we’re ever going to have a normal life—”

“—whatever that is.”

“Exactly. So maybe we should stop worrying and enjoy it?”

“Just don’t want us to keep things bottled up,” Finn said turning back to stare at the ceiling. “Secrets and protecting each other and…” He rubbed a hand over his face. “We need to actually _start_ talking, Dameron.”

“I’m good at that,” Poe said. Finn shot him a look, and Poe’s eyes crinkled as a lop-sided grin spread across his face. Finn smiled, grabbing his pillow and bringing it down on Poe’s head. “Hey!” Poe grabbed for the pillow and missed, falling onto his back next to Finn. Finn rolled over, trying to pin Poe, and the two started playfully shoving and grabbing.

After a few moments, Finn pulled Poe up into a soft kiss that got incrementally rougher until Poe was making tiny little squeaking sounds as Finn nipped at his lips.

They’d fallen asleep in their clothes, but Poe’s hands were already working at Finn’s shirt. Finn asked, “You sure?”

“Hell yes,” Poe said, yanking Finn’s shirt from his pants.

Finn chuckled and grabbed at Poe’s shirt. “Just needed to make sure.”

“Very sure,” Poe muttered, focused on Finn’s pants. “Watch the arm.”

“Watching the arm,” Finn said as he pulled Poe’s shirt off. “Need any help,” he asked, watching Poe burrow under the sheets, tugging at his clothes as he went.

“No,” came the muffled reply.

Finn yelped as he felt Poe’s tongue lick his navel. He lifted the sheets and stared at the top of Poe’s head. He cleared his throat. “Yes,” Poe asked, his eyes big and innocent.

“Might want to get my pants all the way off before you…”

“Couldn’t resist,” Poe said, crawling back down Finn’s legs and taking Finn’s pants with him.

Finn leaned back with a smile. He knew that sometimes it was better just to let Poe do his thing and not interfere. As he heard his pants hit the floor and felt his socks being pulled off, he said to the mound of blankets near his feet, “Am I the only one who’s gonna be naked here?”

“Would that be so bad,” Poe asked, crawling back up Finn’s body with a trail of feather-light kisses that had Finn’s toes curling.

Finn’s eyes fell shut and he forgot all about the question as Poe kissed his way slowly up Finn’s chest.

“Finn?”

“Hmmmmmmmm,” Finn hummed, every part of his skin vibrating as Poe’s lips teased first one nipple and then the other.

“Finn?”

“Hmmmmmmm?”

Poe sat back on his heels, straddling Finn’s chest and staring down. Finn cracked an eye open. “Why did you stop?”

“I thought you wanted me naked?”

“Mmmmmmm,” Finn mumbled. “Felt good.”

“Yeah,” Poe said, sinking down and nuzzling Finn’s neck, letting his stubble tickle the sensitive skin at the base of Finn’s throat. Finn moaned and Poe started kissing his way to Finn’s shoulder, taking light nips as he went. Finn’s hands found Poe’s back, one pressing Poe to him and the other shoving down Poe’s pants. Poe chuckled. “So now you want me naked…”

“Always want you naked, Dameron,” Finn said, suddenly rolling the two of them over. He pushed Poe onto the bed and pressed a hungry kiss to his mouth. “Get those pants off,” he growled. 

Poe shivered and Finn smiled as Poe quickly shimmied out of his clothes. “You like that voice.”

“Yes,” Poe breathed out as Finn’s hands wandered down his back. Poe grabbed at him, savoring every touch and trying to memorize all the contours of Finn’s skin. “Definitely waited too long to do this,” he said as he began to taste Finn’s shoulder. 

“Should have been doing this since the Finalizer,” Finn said, in-between kisses to Poe’s neck and his chest—trying to map every single scar, every beautiful freckle.

“Should’ve done it _on_ the Finalizer,” Poe moaned as Finn found a particularly sensitive spot just under his ear. His fingers spasmed and then he gripped Finn tighter.

“You good,” Finn asked, already losing his breath.

Poe nodded. “So kriffing good.” His lips found Finn’s and the two of them got lost in the sensations of skin against skin and touches that made them quiver.

Finn had no idea how long they’d been kissing and touching each other; he only knew that he was panting and sweating and harder than he’d ever been in his life. He gasped for air and held Poe’s shoulders, finding Poe’s eyes. “What do you want,” he asked, his voice desperate.

“Everything,” Poe begged. “Anything.” He stilled. “You?”

Finn gave him that small half-smile of his. “Everything,” he said. “Anything.”

“Thank the maker,” Poe said, surging forward into a kiss.


	11. Let's Get the Show on the Road

Finn was the best kind of sore as he got out of bed a few hours later. He turned and looked. Poe was sprawled out face down on the bed, his hair sticking out at every possible angle and several little hickeys forming on his neck. Finn smiled. This was a view he wanted for the rest of his life. 

He reached over and shook Poe’s foot. “Come on. Time to get up.”

Poe made a noise into the mattress. “Poe,” Finn said again. “Time for the mission.”

Poe’s head rose and he blinked. “Morning?”

“Morning,” Finn said with a gentle smile. “We need to get ready.”

Poe took a deep breath and pushed himself up. “When this is over?”

Finn nodded. “Every damn day and night if you want.”

“Oh, I want,” Poe said, groaning as he got out of bed.

Neither of them spoke as they showered and dressed. Both seemed focused on the mission at hand—keep Seeva occupied while Poe searched her private rooms—and both were hoping that things went a lot better than they usually did.

Finn finished dressing in the civilian clothes he’d brought for the conference and stared out the window at the rocky terrain of Brentaal, trying to psyche himself up. Poe walked up beside him, double-checking his blaster and holstering it before glancing at Finn.

This sort of pre-mission ritual was familiar to both of them—as they worked to quiet their nerves—and Poe couldn’t help but take a moment to enjoy Finn’s profile. He loved the wide variety of Finn’s smiles, but when Finn was focused and serious—his eyes fixed on the horizon and his lips pressed together—Poe couldn’t contain his excitement: something about seeing Finn ready to take on the enemy energized Poe, made him want to be a better soldier, a better man. “Ready?”

Finn gave a sharp nod, his eyes glancing at Poe. “You?”

Poe nodded and turned. “Two floors up in the center of the building,” he recited.

Finn nodded walking to the door with Poe by his side. “At least two guards roaming the floor, maybe more.”

They’d gone over all of this last night, but it helped Poe’s nerves to repeat it one last time. “I get in; I find the evidence, and I get out.”

“Meanwhile, Lando and I cause a commotion.”

Poe smirked. “You get to have all the fun.”

Finn fought his smile, but the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. “You and I have a different definition of fun. Stay safe, Dameron.”

“Ay-ay, General,” Poe said with a quick two-fingered salute. Poe started to open the door when Finn grabbed him and spun him, pressing an ardent kiss to Poe’s lips. It was over before Poe could even register what was happening, his eyes fluttering shut and then drifting back open. “Kriff,” he managed. He gave Finn a bewildered smile and stood back up straight. Finn nodded to the door. Poe squared his shoulders and opened it. “Stay safe yourself,” Poe said, heading into the hall and jogging to the nearest stairwell.

Finn took a deep breath and stepped out to knock on Lando’s door.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Iolo had gone through the crates quickly, looking for something, anything, that could help them find Sirra’s killer. When that had given him nothing, he’d started all over again, this time moving through each crate slowly—methodically working his way through clothes and trinkets—hoping against hope that Sirra had hidden something somewhere.

His leg was splayed out, some of the contents of the second crate spread in front of him on the floor. Iolo leaned forward, picking up a stack of flimsi and carefully reading each one.

He leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed. “Sirra,” he begged the dim room. “Please.” He dared a chance at the chrono on the wall. “Kriff,” he muttered, as he set the flimsi aside. He sighed and picked up a jewelry box—he recognized it as a native Keshi piece. She’d probably had it since she was a kid.

Iolo’s breath caught as he thought back to their childhoods. Playing with Sirra, laughing, wild. And now she was… His fingers tensed around the box and he opened it, trying to be careful. There weren’t a lot of pieces—most of them were small silver bracelets like those his mother used to wear. He smiled as he picked them up and they jangled against each other—a familiar noise to any Keshian. He picked up a few more pieces, placing them gingerly on the floor beside him, and soon the box was empty. He started to put the box down when he heard a distinct rattle.

Iolo’s heart started beating a bit more quickly as he held the jewelry box up and shook it.

_Definitely a rattle._

Iolo put the box on the floor and felt around the paneling, pressing and seeing if anything would give. Then, in the middle of a carved flower, he found it—a button. He pressed it and a small compartment opened. Inside was a datastick. Iolo’s hand was shaking as he picked it up. “Please,” he said, pushing himself up with a grunt and making his way to the console. He plugged in the stick and prayed.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Lando opened his door and immediately raised an eyebrow. “You ready for this?” Finn gave him a single nod and they started off towards the conference room on the main level. “You know what you’re going to say?” Finn nodded again. Lando gave a nervous chuckle. “Not much for words this morning, are you, kid?”

“Just ready to take the Olaras down,” Finn said, his voice steady and low.

Lando nodded. As they walked through the door to the room, he muttered, “Let’s get this show on the road then.”

“Seeva,” Finn called out.

She was in a huddle with the group from Tinnel. She looked up and smiled. “Finn!” She started over, her arms held out wide, her gold gown flowing around her. “I was wondering where the delegates from the Resistance had gotten off to.” She made to hug Finn when he stepped back. She stopped, startled. “Something wrong?”

“I’d say so,” Lando mumbled. Finn shot him a sharp look. “Your show,” he said, taking a step back.

Seeva looked between them. “Finn?”

By this time, most of the other delegates were watching them. Finn looked around the room, tried to meet as many eyes as possible. “I was wondering if you could tell us why you’re so anxious about getting these agreements on the trade routes, Seeva.”

She smiled. “Because I’m eager to see things return to normal.” She turned to the others. “We’ve been dealing with upheaval for far too long.”

Finn nodded. “So it wouldn’t have anything to do with your contacts with one of the leading crime syndicates?”

Seeva’s smile fell for only a moment, but Finn saw it. By the time she turned back to the others, it was back in place. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“Really,” Finn said. “Isn’t that why Sirra Durran was killed? To keep that little secret from coming out?”

For a moment, the room was deadly silent. Then one of the delegates from Tinnel stepped forward. “If this is some sort of maneuver on the part of the Resistance—”

“Preposterous,” came another voice from the back of the room.

Suddenly, everyone was talking.

Lando called out over the din, “It isn’t a maneuver.”

“And just what are you basing this on, General Finn,” one of the delegates from Kuat asked.

Finn opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Seeva said, “He’s trying to protect his friend. The being who killed Sirra Durran.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Poe had made it to Seeva’s rooms without encountering any security, and using Lando’s lock-picking gizmo, he’d managed to make it into the outer room of her suite. He had just managed to open the door to her office when he heard two voices in the hall. He ducked behind a chair and prayed they wouldn’t look too hard if they came in.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Iolo had left a message for Reegan, who was out, but after an hour of limping around the hotel room waiting for Reegan to comm back, he decided to walk to Reegan’s office and wait for them there.

As he made it out of the hotel and started down the street, Iolo winced as he stepped on the uneven duracrete. “Next time we do something like this, I’m going to request a hover-chair,” he grumbled as he pressed forward, wishing he’d stayed on his crutches a few days longer.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

“What,” demanded several of the delegates.

Seeva looked inordinately proud of herself. “Of course! It makes perfect sense. He comes in here and causes a spectacle, accusing me, so that the real murderer can sneak away.” She turned to Finn. “Isn’t that right, General Finn?”

If she thought she was going to shake Finn, she was wrong. He stared at her, unimpressed. “Not in the least,” he said. “You killed Sirra. You’ve been laundering money for crime syndicates, and all of this is a cover so you can keep doing what you’ve been doing.”

She shook her head with an affronted huff. “And we’re all supposed to believe you?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lando said.

“Because he’s protecting a murderer,” she said.

“Says you,” Finn said.

“Yes,” Seeva said. She pressed a button on one of her bracelets and said, “Send Rax and Kelmitt to get that file I saved.” She turned to the delegates. “Have you heard of Poe Dameron?”

“You mean, General Poe Dameron,” one of the delegates from Corellia asked.

“Yes. We all know him as _General_ Dameron, the scourge of Starkiller. But what if I told you that he used to be a spice runner?”

There were murmurs and whispers.

Finn raised an eyebrow, trying not to look too amused. “And I used to be a Stormtrooper.”

“And I was a smuggler,” Lando added. “Among other things.”

Seeva held out a hand, gesturing at Lando and Finn. “They admit it! Are you really going to trust such low lifes over me?”

The murmurs were growing louder. Finn looked at Lando, who said, “And what about you, Seeva Olara?”

“What about me?”

“Well,” Lando said with a rakish grin, “how about the fact that up until ten years ago, Seeva Olara didn’t exist.”

There were several gasps throughout the room. Lando winked at Finn.

“You, you, you,” Seeva looked around, her eyes desperate. “You can’t believe him!”

Lando held up a datachip. “Even if I have proof?”

Any pretense of civility was gone as the delegates all began talking over each other.

“I’m telling you, Poe Dameron murdered that woman,” Seeva said, screeching.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Two human men walked into Seeva’s office, and thankfully, neither looked around. They walked right past Poe and went straight to a cabinet behind a large metal desk. “She say what she wanted?”

“Holo of that night. She edited it to look like Dameron killed the girl.”

The other one sighed. “It would’ve been so much easier if we could’ve just disappeared the girl.”

“Yeah,” the other one said. He began typing at the console. “Don’t see why she wanted the Resistance here anyway.”

The first one laughed. “They’ve been nice enough to help us launder money for Crymorah, so that’s got to be worth an invitation, don’t you think?”

“I guess,” the other one said. “They’re always causing trouble.”

Poe sunk down to the floor, closing his eyes. He’d figured Seeva was bad, but this was just pouring salt on the wound. He clenched his fist and promised himself that as soon as they had dealt with the immediate mess, he’d get one of the droids to go over every single credit Seeva had ever given them.

“Okay,” said one of the men. “That’s it.” He grabbed the datachip from a lockbox and they started towards the door.

Poe moved up into a crouch, ready to follow them, but he misjudged slightly and had to grab the chair in front of him for support. It slid on the floor.

The two men stopped. “What was that?”

Poe cursed and reached for his blaster.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Iolo was nearly at Reegan’s office when he spotted the being—he recognized them from Seeva Olana’s house the day before. “Kriff,” he whispered, letting his hand fall near his blaster. “Please be a coincidence.”

“Mister Arana,” the being called out. “Seeva Olana would like a word.”


	12. This is What I Do

“I’m afraid I’ve got a meeting right now,” Iolo said. “Otherwise, I’d love—”

The being lunged for him, and Iolo yelped as he jumped back. “Crap,” he yelled, reaching for his blaster.

“Don’t make me get rough with you,” the being said.

“Don’t make me shoot you,” Iolo said.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a voice from behind Iolo.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

The two men walked back in the office. Poe took a deep breath and popped up from behind the chair. “Hey! I think I’m lost, and—”

They both grabbed for their blasters, so Poe dove for the desk. Two shots hit the chair he’d been hiding behind. He returned fire and the two men dove in opposite directions. “Really,” he called out. “Couldn’t stay together?”

“Flank him,” one called out.

“Kriff,” Poe muttered as he leaned around the desk to get eyes on them. This was going just about as bad as he’d expected.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Everyone in the room was shouting, and Seeva kept looking at the door, no doubt waiting on the servants she’d sent to fetch her “evidence.”

“So where is it,” Finn demanded. “Where’s the proof?”

Other delegates chimed in, demanding to see it. Seeva frowned, her eyes narrowing as she stared at Finn. He held her gaze, daring her to say something.

One of the delegates from Chandrila asked, “And what about General Calrissian’s claim?”

Seeva sneered, “Why couldn’t you just leave well enough alone? The Resistance was making money and I was keeping my partners happy. But no, one stupid Keshian dies and suddenly, we have to make a big deal out of it?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

Finn saw the blaster a moment before she opened fire. He dove for Lando, driving both of them behind a table.

The room erupted into screams and blasterfire.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Iolo felt a blaster in the small of his back. “I think Ruha asked you nicely to see Miss Olara.”

Iolo put his hands up. “Great. Just what I wanted to do.”

The three of them started walking towards a speeder when a voice piped up. “Something I can help you with, Mister Arana?”

Iolo smiled. “Reegan, it’s about damn time you showed up.” He lowered his hands.

“Sorry,” Reegan said. “I got called into a meeting.” Reegan walked into view, shaking their head. “Kidnapping is a serious offense.”

“Mind your business,” Ruha said and made to shove Reegan out of the way. Reegan caught Ruha’s arm and moved as fast as Iolo had ever seen a being move. Suddenly, Ruha was on the ground.

A blaster was pressing into Iolo’s neck. “You take one step towards me,” the other being said, “and the Keshian gets it.” Iolo tensed, his eyes pleading with Reegan to do something.

Reegan stood to full height, not in the least intimidating, and yet, they radiated a calm authority. They nodded at the street around them—a crowd was forming. “You need to lower the blaster and let Mister Arana go.”

Iolo could feel the blaster shaking. He closed his eyes and prayed there wasn’t a finger on the trigger.

Several beings stepped forward in a circle around the speeder. “Reegan, you good,” one of them asked.

“Of course,” Reegan said. They looked at the being holding the blaster. “You need to lower your weapon now or this is going to get very, very messy.”

Iolo held his breath and then nearly laughed as he heard the blaster clatter onto the ground.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Finn surveyed the scene, trying to get a clear sightline on as many of Seeva’s guards as possible. He yelled at Lando, “Get the other delegates out of here!”

“What about you?”

“I’m a solider, Lando. This is what I do.” Finn sprinted for another table, taking out a guard on his way. He spun and began returning fire on someone else shooting at him.

Lando chuckled. “How could I forget?”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Poe crouched low. Right now, he only had eyes on one of the men, but that was enough if he could get a clear shot. “I really don’t want to kill you two,” he said, sinking all the way to the ground.

They laughed, and he saw his opportunity. Neither of them were looking down. He aimed low and took out one of their knees. As that guard went down, the other surged towards Poe, but he rolled away and managed to get some more furniture between them.

“I’m gonna get you, you—”

Poe popped up and shot the man’s blaster. He shrieked as it singed his hand. Poe ran at the man and punched him soundly in the face, smiling as the man hit the ground. “Yeah! Resistance!” Poe looked around but there was no one to appreciate his moves.

He then remembered why he was in the office and went back to Seeva’s desk.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Finn had Seeva and two of her guards pinned, but he couldn’t make any headway. “Give it up, Olara!”

“You really think I’m scared of one man? I’ve faced dozens of your kind before!”

“No, you haven’t,” Finn said with a smile. He dashed over to an overturned table just a little closer to her. Seeva screamed and fired with abandon but none of her shots connected. “Sorry,” Finn called out with glee. He then hit one of her guards. “Now it’s one against two. I’m loving those odds,” Finn yelled.

“So am I,” Lando said from the doorway. He was flanked by Iolo and Reegan. 

Finn laughed. “Want to rethink that surrender now, Seeva?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two more chapters left!


	13. The Rest of Our Lives

Poe took the stairs of the main staircase two at a time but stopped short on the main floor as he found all sorts of law enforcement officials as well as most of the delegates in the main hall arguing with each other. “What in the kriff,” he asked as he spotted Lando.

“Long story,” Lando said. He saw the flimsi and datachips in Poe’s hands. “I take it you found something?”

Poe laughed. “So much something.” Lando nodded to the main conference room where Reegan was talking to Finn and Iolo. “Reegan,” Poe yelled. “Have I got something for you!”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

By the time the four of them made it back to Poe and Iolo’s hotel, they were beyond tired. “How long did we…” Iolo started.

“Hours,” Finn said.

“Hours and hours and hours,” Poe added.

“Did we ever eat,” Iolo asked.

“I didn’t,” Finn said.

Lando chuckled. “I’m going to order us something and have it sent up to the room.”

“Rooms,” Poe said. “I’m getting Finn and me our own room.”

Iolo made smacking noises.

“Seriously, Lo, right now I’m going to the fresher. Then, I’m going to eat. Then, I’m going to sleep for the next three days,” Finn said.

“Sure,” Iolo said.

“Cuddling is the extent of it until I don’t feel like my arm is going to fall off,” Poe added.

Lando shook his head. “Kids these days.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

After the fresher and a quick meal, cuddling was, indeed, all they had energy for—and both Poe and Finn were asleep within minutes of getting into bed.

The next three days were meetings with delegates and with Reegan, and by the fourth day—and the tenth irate message from Rose—Poe realized it was time to leave.

He sighed as they made it back to their room that night. “So,” he started as they walked in. Finn looked over at him, waiting. “Uhhhhh,” Poe stalled. “It’s just that…”

“Rose wants you back. In command. Where you’re supposed to be.”

“Yeah,” Poe said, sitting down on the bed.

Finn sat down next to him. “And?”

“And…Kriff, Finn. We…I mean,” he looked over at his boyfriend. “We haven’t even been together a week and I’m already…it’s just…” He fell back onto the bed, scrubbing his face with his hand. “Sometimes I hate this job.”

Finn chuckled. “Me too.” He reached over, pulling Poe’s hand from his eyes. “Would it help if I told you that I’m going back too?”

“What,” Poe asked, his eyes flying open.

Finn’s smile grew. “Yeah. I talked to Lando, and I think he has things handled here, and from now on, he’s going to insist a bit more strongly that beings meet with him instead of one of us, and so…” Finn shrugged. “I’m going back to base with you.”

Poe’s smile was blinding. “Buddy,” he breathed out. “That’s…” He shook his head and sat up. “That is great.”

“Thought you’d like that,” Finn said, wrapping a hand around Poe and hugging him. “And I figured Iolo could fly the transport, so you and I would have the whole trip back to—”

“Canoodle?”

“I was thinking talk, but I’m sure we could manage some canoodling too.”

“Perfect,” Poe said, placing a quick kiss on Finn’s lips.

The console dinged and Finn got up to answer the comm. Rose’s face flickered blue on the screen. “Rose,” he said happily. “How are you?”

She groaned. “I’ll be a lot better when you two get back here.”

Poe stood behind Finn. “We’re coming back tomorrow, okay?”

“Good,” Rose said, “because Rey just sent us a message that she’s coming back and I figured you might want to be here for that.”

“You better believe it,” Finn said.

“And there’s about three week’s worth of work for both of you,” Rose added.

“Or maybe not,” Poe asked.

“Sorry, no,” Rose said. Then, she smiled a sly smile. “Besides, I heard you’re a wanted man, General. So you’re probably going to need to lay low and—”

Poe made a growling sound and stomped away. “No,” he said. “We are not going to start this! If I see one fake wanted poster or if this becomes a thing, then, then… Gah!” He stomped out of the room.

Finn laughed. “We should have someone make some wanted posters.”

“Already on it, General,” Rose said. 

“Perfect.”

“Now, go get your boyfriend. You’ve got an early flight tomorrow.”

“How did you…”

“Iolo commed me the moment he found out,” Rose said. “But seriously, you two have been a couple forever.”

Finn’s head fell forward. “And I take it everyone knew?”

“Anyone who met you,” Rose said.

“Sounds about right,” Finn said.

“Glad you’re coming back,” Rose said.

“Me too.”

“Ajon Kloss out.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Iolo stood in the garden of the Olara compound. Reegan’s officers were still going through the building; they’d already found a huge weapons cache, and Reegan was confident they’d find even more. But outside in the half-light of twilight it was quiet.

After he flew Poe and Finn back to base tomorrow, Iolo would take an X-wing back to Keshi and pay his respects to the Durran family in person.

He looked up into the rapidly darkening sky, thinking about how senseless it was that Sirra had survived the war only to be killed by a supposed friendly.

Seeva had confessed after being confronted with the information Reegan downloaded from Sirra’s datachip, and she was now sitting in a Brentaalian prison. “Good riddance,” Iolo said, kicking at the ground.

He stared at the trees and greenery, wondering what would become of it now that the Olara family was gone. Not that any of it had been real—as they learned from Lando’s intel, Seeva Olara was an invention of the Crymorah crime syndicate. Iolo reached out and ran his hands over the tiny leaves of a nearby bush. “Shame,” he said, wondering if he was talking about Sirra or the garden or everything. He sighed, walking over to the fountain and sitting beside it.

Reegan came out the back door. “I thought you’d be back at your hotel by now, Mister Arana.”

Iolo nodded. “I just,” he shook his head, “wanted to take a moment for Sirra.”

Reegan sat down next to him, pensive. “It must be hard,” they finally said, “to see someone killed outside the confines of battle.”

“It isn’t easy _in_ battle, either.”

“No, I suppose not,” Reegan said.

Iolo stared at the unimposing being. “So, where did you learn to fight like that?”

Reegan gave a small laugh. “The Rebellion,” they said. 

“You don’t look old enough.”

“Thank you,” Reegan said. They stared at the garden. “Such a waste.”

“It’s beautiful,” Iolo said.

“But it isn’t right. All that time and water and conditioning to force these plants to fit here, instead of just appreciating the natural landscape.”

Iolo nodded. “I’m guessing it will all die off now.”

“Probably,” Reegan said. They turned to Iolo. “Are you going to be okay, Mister Arana?”

Iolo thought hard about that. It seemed that everyone had been running on adrenaline and hope since Exegol, and it was all starting to wear thin. “I don’t know.”

Reegan nodded. “For what it’s worth, I hope that should I ever have the need, I have a friend like you who comes when I call.”

“I couldn’t help her,” Iolo said, staring at his feet.

“I’m not sure anyone could,” Reegan said, “but you finished her work. You saw some very bad beings brought to justice and prevented what would’ve been a disastrous trade agreement that would’ve most likely brought the new government down.”

“Maybe.”

Reegan held out a hand for Iolo to shake. “It’s been a pleasure, Mister Arana, and when the time comes, I want you to know that you can count on the Brentaalian government to support the Resistance in setting up the new galactic government.”

Iolo shook Reegan’s hand. “Thanks,” he said, rising and following Reegan back to the house. “I’m hoping by then I might be retired.”

“I found that I missed it after a while.”

Iolo considered that. “Well, I’d like to have a while to miss it first,” he finally said.

“That’s probably wise.”

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**The Next Day…**

Iolo was at the controls and had told Poe in no uncertain terms that if he so much as breathed in the direction of the cockpit, Iolo would stun him. Poe, being Poe, was nearly certain Iolo was bluffing, but Finn really didn’t want to have to drag Poe’s unconscious body off the ship when they landed, so he’d insisted Poe stay in the back with him.

“We’re supposed to talk, aren’t we?”

Poe slumped into his seat, glancing at the cockpit. “Yeah.”

“Don’t act so happy, dear.”

“Sorry, it’s just…” He sighed and leaned back. “Don’t get to fly much anymore.”

Finn took his hand. “That’s part of what I want to talk about.” Poe’s curiosity was peaked. “I think we both need to find a way to scale back a bit, let some of the others take on more responsibilities. Have some time to ourselves.”

Poe smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

“I was thinking we could promote Rose?”

“Definitely,” Poe said. “Jannah too.”

Finn nodded. “And I think it’s time to start recruiting for beings to help with the administrative side of things. Especially former Stormtroopers.”

Poe thought about it. “You think they’d want to?”

“I think some of them would. Especially if it means having a say in the new government.”

“Then I think we should work something up with Jannah when we get back,” Poe said.

Finn smiled. “Good.” He reached into his shirt and pulled out the washer hanging from his neck. “Now we can talk about this.”

Poe flushed and made to stand. “Maybe I should see if Iolo—”

“Sit,” Finn said, grabbing Poe’s good arm and jerking him down. “Explain.”

Poe leaned back in his seat. “I…” He shook his head and then shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“To give me your mother’s wedding ring?”

“I didn’t know if anyone was going to listen to Lando. I had no idea if our plan was going to work, or if Palpatine was going to win, and…” Poe looked at the floor, his boots scuffing against it. “It wouldn’t have been fair to tell you I love you just before we ran off into maker knows what, so…” He bit his lip.

“So?”

Poe looked up. “I did always think it brought me luck.” He reached over and took the washer from Finn’s hand. “Just a little piece of her looking out for me.” He let it fall onto Finn’s chest. “And I was hoping she’d look after you, make sure you came back to me safe.”

Finn felt tears in his eyes. He took Poe’s hand and clasped it against his chest. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Poe stared at their joined hands. “And after… After, I kept wanting to tell you. But I also didn’t want to pressure you and…” Poe looked up at Finn, his eyes glistening. “I’d always planned to give it to the being that I…” He swallowed. “The being I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”

A tear rolled down Finn’s cheek and he smiled. “Is that what you want? The rest of our lives?”

Tears filled Poe’s eyes. He nodded and then quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his arm. “I do.”

“I do too,” Finn whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (had to end this chapter on a soft note)
> 
> I can't believe this is almost over! Thanks to everyone who's been reading and big thanks to all of you who have left comments!
> 
> The final chapter goes up on Friday...


	14. Follow Your Heart

**The Next Evening…**

Rose blinked. “I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?”

“We’d like to promote you,” Poe said.

“We talked things over with Lando and we’re reinstating his Rebellion rank of General. We’d like to promote you to General as well,” Finn said.

“Then, we’d promote Kaydel and Jannah to Colonel and start trying to recruit beings to start helping us put the government together,” Poe said. “We’ve already got some good allies on Brentaal and Corellia, and I’m pretty sure Lando will have some others by the time we’re ready to start broadcasting our ideas to the rest of the galaxy.”

“General,” Rose said. She looked at them. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Finn said.

“It’s not that we’re quitting,” Poe said.

“We just need to scale back our time, so we actually have some time,” Finn added.

“That’s why we want to bring in help for you too. We all need a life outside of this, now that the war is nearly over.”

Rose smiled. “We had reports today from three more outposts. They’re getting daily defectors and our new estimates suggest that there are only a few small pockets of First Order activity left.”

“In the galaxy,” Finn asked.

Rose nodded. “In the galaxy.”

Poe whooped. “That is cause for a celebration!”

“Well that and the fact that they caught that terrible murderer Poe Dameron,” Beaumont said.

Poe groaned and Finn slapped him on the back. “Spice runner AND murderer!”

“You’re all terrible,” came a voice from the other side of command. 

Poe, Finn, Rose, and Beaumont all turned to see Rey standing there.

“Rey,” Finn yelled, dashing over and picking her up in a huge hug.

“When did you get back,” Poe asked.

“Just before you,” Rey said. “I asked Rose to keep it a secret.” She hugged Finn back.

Poe came over, enveloping Finn and Rey in a hug. “Good to have everyone back,” he said. He stepped back, looking Rey square in the eye. “Now, where’s my droid?”

Rey laughed and pointed towards the mess. “Bee is keeping an eye on some of my padawans.”

“Padawans,” Poe asked.

“Yes, padawans. We have fifteen new Jedi-in-training.”

Finn wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Sixteen,” he said.

Rey’s smile was transcendent. “Sixteen,” she said, leaning into his hug.

Poe went still, his voice small as he asked, “So when do you leave?”

“Leave,” Rey asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.

“Yeah,” Poe said. “Training and…”

She cuffed him on the arm. “We’re not going anywhere, nerf-herder. We just got back!”

Finn shook his head. “Did you really think I was just going to abandon you? Now?”

“Well, I mean…”

“Really, Dameron? We start dating and the first thing I do is leave? That’s what you think of me?”

“No,” Poe said, reaching for Finn, who was pretending to pout. “I just—”

“Wait,” Rey said, looking from Poe to Finn and back again. “Does this mean?” She squealed, “Are you two finally together?”

Finn said, “Yes?”

She screamed and pulled Poe and Finn back into a hug. “Finally,” she said.

“I know,” Rose agreed.

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

Later that night, after a raucous party in the mess, introducing the new padawans to the Resistance and celebrating Rey’s return and Rose’s new rank, Poe and Finn drug themselves back to their room. “Still don’t know how I feel about having a Jedi as a boyfriend,” Poe said as they walked in.

“You’ll get used to it,” Finn said, taking off his shoes. “Especially as I’ll be here. On base. As opposed to gone. Somewhere else.”

“Ha ha,” Poe said, sitting down and tugging at his boots. “So I want my boyfriend around. Sue me.” Finn shook his head with a smile. “My dad’s gonna kriffing love it,” Poe said, finally getting his boots off. As they clattered to the floor, he frowned, staring at his bed and then Finn’s. He asked, “Do we scoot them together or…”

“Or,” Finn asked, looking at Poe, who pointed to his bed. “Oh,” Finn said, taking in their two beds, currently housed on two opposite walls.

“Sleep in one bed?”

“Requisition a bigger bed,” Finn suggested.

Poe pointed at him nodding. “I knew I loved you for a reason.”

“I’d like to think it’s more than that.”

Poe’s clothes were piling up on the floor next to him. He leaned back and shook his head. “No. Just your bed requisitioning skills.” Finn raised an eyebrow and Poe flashed him a dazzling smile. “Well, maybe one or two other things.”

Finn stalked over to Poe. “Yeah,” he asked, running a hand through Poe’s hair.

Poe’s eyes fell shut and he leaned into the touch. “Yeah,” he whispered.

“Like what?”

“Uhhhhh,” Poe said, getting lost in the tingle and tug of Finn’s fingers in his hair. “Uh, you’re pretty?”

“And?”

“Smart,” Poe whispered. “So kriffing smart.”

Finn chuckled, watching Poe’s eyes flutter. Poe’s mouth curled up into a lovely little grin. “Anything else,” Finn asked.

“Yeah,” Poe moaned as Finn tugged a bit.

“What’s that?”

Poe swallowed. “Sexy,” he panted. “Sexiest being I’ve ever met.”

“Hmmmmm,” Finn hummed, leaning down. “Glad to know I’m more than a big bed to you.”

“The biggest, best bed ever,” Poe mumbled.

Finn pressed his lips to Poe’s and Poe made a yummy little noise, his hands finding Finn’s neck and drawing him closer as Poe leaned back, pulling them onto the bed. “Definitely need a bigger bed.”

“The biggest,” Poe said, tugging at Finn’s pants.

As both of their minds gave over to the sensation of hands and bodies and the smell of sweat and the salty taste of skin, a peace settled over Poe and Finn. The war wasn’t quite over, and the new government would take months, perhaps even years, to build. But they had each other, and they had a large network of friends and colleagues supporting them. And most of all, they both had the strong underlying faith that everything was going to get better. Together.

Because if a Stormtrooper and an ex-spice runner could find each other and defy all the naysayers to emerge triumphant and in love, then Poe and Finn had to believe that what they were going to build would stand the test of time as a testament to faith, hard work, and the power of following your heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp! That's it! I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Thanks to everyone for reading and a HUGE thank you to everyone who left comments!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Updates on Tuesdays and Fridays


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